UFC
Ahead of UFC's return to Atlantic City, Dana White credits Donald Trump for early Zuffa assistance
May 7, 2012 - 9:45:02 AM Ahead of UFC's return to Atlantic City, Dana White credits Donald Trump for early Zuffa assistance

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

When Zuffa purchased the UFC back in 2001, the sport was in the midst of its "dark age," and only beginning its transition from the early years into the sport we know today. They didn't have a wide pay-per-view reach, and they had few options available for venue locations and cities willing to book them.

Enter Donald Trump and Atlantic City, New Jersey. The real estate mogul and reality television personality opened his doors to the organization for their first two events under Zuffa ownership, and UFC President Dana White expressed his gratitude for that recently when discussing the UFC's return to Atlantic City next month for UFC on FX 4.

"It's actually kind of fun for me (to return to Atlantic City)," White said (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com). "I'm happy about that because that's where we started. When we first bought this company, no venues would even take us. Donald Trump was the first guy to say, 'We'll do the fights here.'"

"Donald Trump gave us our first shot over at [his arena], and then when we left and went to a bigger arena at the Meadowlands, he was one of the first guys there in his seat. He watched the whole card."

Despite Trump's brief foray as a competitor to the UFC with his involvement in Affliction's ill-fated fight organization, White insisted that they've always held a strong relationship.

"When we did this FOX deal, 'The New York Times' did a big write-up on the FOX deal," White said. "Donald Trump sent me that paper and said, 'Congratulations Dana. You've come so far. We're so happy for you guys.'"

"You don't ever hear me say anything bad about Donald Trump, even when he was part of the Affliction thing. I never said anything."

Penick's Analysis: There are many people, many situations, and many incidents that went into getting the UFC to where it is today, but Zuffa getting started in Atlantic City was certainly big for starting off. The previous ownership group was struggling with finding places to run events, and had faced much resistance from many areas in getting started. Trump opening up to the sport and the organization, bringing them in to run at his Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort for their first two events, was important, and clearly something White and the UFC will not forget when dealing with him in the future. It's definitely going to be interesting to have the UFC return to where it began under Zuffa, and it brings about a nice reflection of what got them here.