Who could replace Dana White as The Face of UFC?

There's one obvious choice. Also, who's in the tank for Turki Alalshikh?

I’ve been trying to tell y’all that Dana White is a figurehead who delegates the day-to-day business of running the UFC since I started this newsletter.

Rising star (and likely Dana successor) Hunter Campbell does most of the stuff Dana used to do on the high-pressure fighter negotiations side.

Major PPV card collapses two weeks out? That’ll mostly be Hunter’s problem.

Working with matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard on the day-to-day shitting out APEX card after APEX card? Again, that’s mostly Hunter.

I suspect Chief Content Officer Craig Borsari still talks to Dana a bit more than Hunter but perhaps I could be wrong. And after Borsari underestimated the cost of putting on UFC 306 at The Sphere by $12 million, I’m not sure how warm and fuzzy the mood at UFC HQ is right now. Dana and Craig were together at the APEX on Tuesday with UFC’s latest complaints about MGM.

If Dana White decided to walk away tomorrow, Hunter Campbell could step in the next day and the organization would hardly miss a beat.

With one huge exception.

Hunter Campbell is just barely beginning to surface as a publicly known entity to UFC fans and TKO investors. Dana White, on the other hand, is synonymous with the promotion to press and public alike.

Dana’s a big personality who had at least five years to grow into the role when almost no one was paying attention.

2001 Dana White wasn’t quite ready for a Men’s Health cover story.

Hunter Campbell wouldn’t have that luxury. The UFC needs someone who can jump in front of the cameras when the post-Dana White era of the UFC begins.

Chael Sonnen is that man.

It’s obvious that Joe Rogan is way too checked out and has his own empire to run.

Daniel Cormier is too Homer Simpson for the role.

Michael Bisping? Sorry Michael, I hate to say this, but the next face of the UFC is not going to be a cross-eyed Brit — even if your game as a company defender of fighter pay is aggressive.

And as we’ll make clear in this article for our paid subscribers at The MMA Draw, there will always be a pressing need for a charismatic and capable front man who still has the trust and support of the fans.

That’s because we’ve entered a new era of the UFC, one in which the promotion and its owners are going to be increasingly at the mercy of the Middle Eastern money players who Endeavor and TKO are increasingly in hock to.

One of those investors is so behind the scenes as to be effectively invisible, but the other one made himself the story during and after UFC 306.

This character found himself:

• facing allegations that he already has MMA media’s great new hope in the tank;

• posting the most revealing behind-the-scenes photos from the UFC 306 VIP section with Jeff Bezos and his Missus (but not her Endeavor exec ex-husband), Ari & Mark, Hunter, Dana, Jon Jones, and some mystery bros; and

• accused of doing exactly what Zach Arnold warned our readers he would do months ago.

Given that Dana White got more fan support when he was caught on video slapping his wife than he got for his $20 million boondoggle at The Sphere, it’s getting to be time for the UFC to swap out their public mascots.

And that man’s name is Chael Sonnen.