The Roku documentary series Fight Inc. provided an inside look at the UFC, but despite its popularity, UFC CEO Dana White is reluctant to produce a follow-up due to concerns about revealing too much of the organization’s behind-the-scenes operations.
From the moment Aljamain Sterling accepted his fight against Sean O’Malley to UFC executives breaking news to Jon Jones about his torn pectoral muscle, the recent Roku documentary series Fight Inc. gave fans a real inside look at what happens behind the scenes at the world’s biggest MMA promotion.
Unfortunately, as much as people seemed to enjoy the three-episode series, UFC CEO Dana White says there won’t likely be a follow-up. While he admits there’s far more that happens at UFC than what made it into the documentary, White just isn’t rushing to reveal everything that goes on with the day-to-day business involving executives and the rest of his employees.
“I’m glad that everybody liked it,” White told Barstool Sports. “I’m glad they enjoyed the series, but it’s too much behind the curtain for me, and it’s disruptive, and there’s a lot of things that you really can’t show.”
White points specifically at the UFC matchmakers and the head of his public relations team as prime examples of footage he’d really never want to see the light of day. “What really goes on with Sean [Shelby], Hunter [Campbell] and Mick [Maynard] on phone calls and things like this,” White said.
“I loved the Hunter scene where Hunter gets a deal done for the heavyweight championship in a parking lot in a car. Fun shit.” “[Senior VP of Communications] Lenee [Breckenridge], you can’t really go into the Lenee/Sean Strickland, like how Lenee’s f*cking days go with the Sean Strickland press conference. It’s too behind-the-curtain for me, and it’s disruptive, and you have to be very selective in what we really do.”
UFC matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard are typically not allowed to say much of anything regarding how fights come together or fall apart. Meanwhile, Hunter Campbell —the UFC’s chief business officer— has his hands in just about every part of the promotion, including matchmaking and contract negotiations, which are also never made public.
Even with everything that was shown during Fight Inc., White promises there was no way the show could truly do a deep dive on all the various moving parts that help UFC operate as a well-oiled machine.
He knows there’s more than enough material at UFC to do Fight Inc. forever, but he’s just not interested in revealing that much of his company’s secret sauce. “It’s a sliver of what really goes on,” White said.
“Basically, Fight Inc. covered people close to me. As you can see, those people are all close to me right now.” This is my group that’s always close to me.
“There’s so much more and so many other people and so many other things that go on in UFC.” You could do 97 seasons of this.
“We have 600 employees.” That [show], too, is probably one-and-done.
“You could do this forever.” People would be blown away by what goes on every day.