White was born on July 28, 1969, in Manchester, Connecticut, to June and Dana White Sr.
He is of Irish ancestry. White spent most of his childhood in Ware, Massachusetts.
White and his sister, Kelly, were raised by their mother and her family for the majority of their childhoods. White’s mother was a nurse, and the family moved to Las Vegas when White was in third grade, as Vegas offered higher wages for nurses. White attended Bishop Gorman High School, where he first met Lorenzo Fertitta, although they did not become close friends until years later. White said he disliked school and “got kicked out of Gorman twice”. Despite living in Nevada, the Whites returned to the East Coast in the summers, to spend time with White grandparents in Levant, Maine, a small town near Bangor. White spent his senior year of high school in Maine.
After graduating from Hermon High School in 1987, White enrolled in college twice, once at Quincy College and once at UMass Boston, but dropped out both times during the first semester. During this time, he worked as a bellhop at the Boston Harbor Hotel, laid asphalt, and worked as a bouncer at an Irish club. White began boxing at the age of 17 and befriended former Golden Gloves champion, Peter Welch. Through this association, White decided he wanted to get into the fight business and opened a boxing gym in Boston with Welch. White had planned to become a professional boxer but was scared off after watching a punch-drunk boxer and fearing he would suffer the same fate. White afterward worked as a boxercise instructor.
What religion is Dana White?
White grew up as a Catholic but now considers himself an agnostic.
