Dana White's employee set to fight in front of him in hope of securing UFC contract
One of Dana White's non-fighting employees is set to fight in front of him for the chance to sign with the UFC.
White's 'Contender Series' is set to return for its 10th season, with the start date pencilled in for Tuesday August 11.
The series, which began in 2017, is essentially a competition to scout unsigned talent for the UFC and give them the opportunity to sign with the biggest MMA promotion in the world.
They compete in fights in the hope of impressing UFC president White and his matchmakers, with Sean Malley and Jack Della Maddalena two high-profile stars who featured in the series before going on to win championship glory in UFC.
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This year's edition is particularly interesting, however, as it's emerged that one of the contenders already works for White in a different capacity.
Sal Everett is an undefeated fighter who competes at middleweight, with four wins in his professional career.
But Everett, who made his amateur debut in 2023, is known to White. He used to work as security for UFC and then became more involved as a "facility runner" - regularly running errands for White and other high-level executives.
“I’m Dana White’s assistant’s assistant,” Everett said, explaining his job role to Darrell Harris in a YouTube interview.
“I’m the facility runner, I help around the office… I do most things around the office when it comes to like stocking fridges and doing errands for Dana, Nichole (Durand), Hunter (Campbell), anybody that needs extra assistance in the executive office.
"It was crazy how it came together. I just started off as security. I came through a third party group over here and then I just got my way in through corporate security.
"I picked up a shift as like overtime at one of the shows and Dana's runner at the time said he was going to move on to another position and I thought it was just a good opportunity to jump on because I thought it fit a better schedule for me.
"It just sounded like a fun opportunity. I like Dana White, I liked the job and it didn't sound too crazy. I already had a boxing and wrestling background, muay-thai and jiu-jitsu so I figured no time is better than now.
"Dana jumped behind me and started helping me out with the Performance Institute around my third amateur fight. Dana's been backing me and helping me out ever since."
Everett's appearance in the new season of the Contender Series was confirmed by UFC announcer Justin Bernard, who took to Instagram to write: "My man @salhahuddinbundy is going to @dwcs See you in the octagon brother! Contract SZN."
Everett competes for the Las-Vegas based Tuff-N-Uff promotion, which regularly has its shows streamed on the UFC Fight Pass.
He has two knockouts and two submissions to his name - the most recent of which was courtesy of a rear-naked choke against Armus Guyton last month.
Topics: Dana White, UFC
Josh Lawless