Incredible photo of UFC chief Dana White in first job before drastic career change led to £395million fortune

Dana White has come a long way since his teenage years.

Today, the 54-year-old is one of the most respected businessmen in sport after helping transform the UFC from ‘human cockfighting’ to a £17.3billion company.

White was expelled from school and dropped out of college before taking a job as a bellboy at 19 – now an amazing picture from his brief time in the role has gone viral.

It shows the MMA mogul sporting a fresh face and full head of hair as he stands in uniform waiting to collect bags at the five-star Boston Harbor Hotel in Massachusetts.

White made the bold decision to quit his job and pursue a career in combat sports before seeking out Golden Gloves champion Peter Welch, who taught him about the fight business.

White explained his decision in 2021: “I was standing in the lobby one day, and thought, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’

“So, I walked out the front door and one of my good friends, who is still one of my good friends, the doorman, said, ‘What are you doing?’

“I said, ‘I’m quitting, I want to be in the fight business’. He said, ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life’.

“I just thought, ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen if you try?’

“The day I walked out of that hotel if it doesn’t work out, I can go and be a bellman again whenever I want to.”

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Thankfully, everything worked out for White and he’s now running the world’s premier MMA organisation and is personally worth around $500million [£395m].

The UFC boss put on his bellboy suit for one final time last year.

Ahead of a UFC event in his hometown, White returned to the hotel he used to work at and greeted his friends as they arrived at the venue – but the joke backfired.

Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra took one look at his pal before letting rip with a rapid one-liner that left White in hysterics.

Serra quipped: “Wow! I guess the Power Slap didn’t work out.”

White immediately burst into laughter and later told a camera his hysterical reaction to Serra’s joke didn’t stop for half an hour.

And he continues to laugh all the way to the bank as his controversial slap fighting league is valued at $450m [£355m] after just one year.

It’s safe to say White will never need to put on his bellboy gear again.