UFC CEO Dana White is also heavily invested in the sport of bull riding. He has owned several bulls in the past few years. However, one of his later acquisitions, called the Twisted Steel, caught the eye of the world. The marvelous animal athlete even visited the UFC Headquarters in Las Vegas in October 2023.
White, who already owns Power Slap and is in a partnership with NASCAR’s Trackhouse Racing, is a spectacularly successful promoter. He is well-known for appreciating and recruiting stand-out athletes.
In the past few years, he has acquired several bucking bulls – a bull used in rodeo bull riding competition – including White Thunder, Sour Diesel, and F-Bomb, who have competed in Pro Bull Riding. However, none of his bulls competed on the big-level premier show until Twisted Steel came along.
Dana White’s Twisted Steel was purchased from Bryce Cooper. The bull is hauled by Dennis Davis. White met Davis in 2016 – the year when it all started for White in bull riding. At the time, White was traveling all over the country to recruit new MMA fighters for his reality show, Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight.
In a DWCS press conference in October 2023, White revealed, “I did ‘Lookin for a Fight’ back in [2015 or 2016], the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, riding a bull. But after I did it, I kinda got into it… We went out on this whole ranch, this guy Dennis Davis Bucking Bulls, his ranch. And I said, ‘I wanna get into this, I’ll buy a bull.’”
The dumbest thing White ever did would probably have been the last thing he ever did. He came very close to being quashed by a bull. However, he still decided to get into the business.
Dana White felt fear for the first time when he was bull riding in 2016
Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight followed a prevailing local theme wherever it went. In Houston, they took on bull riding. White thought it would be good for his show to attempt a bull for the cameras.
“I always thought bull riding was absolutely insane,” he said at the time, according to SI Fan Nation. “And it’s literally the most dangerous sport in the world. I’m not really afraid of anything, including death. That was the first time I felt legit fear. I was scared.”
White reportedly hung on for a decent time of 3.07 seconds. He was thrown off the bull and came within inches of being seriously stomped. He called it “the fastest, scariest, craziest three seconds you will ever have in your life.”
Twisted Steel lives on Davis’ – a former bull rider who went into the bull business after retiring – ranch in Wallis, Texas with 35 other bulls.