If it wasn’t for UFC social media guru Nina-Marie Daniele, better known as “Nina Drama,” then some of the promotion’s biggest stars wouldn’t be where they are today.
This is according to UFC CEO Dana White, who claims that Daniele has had a hand in building up the careers of some of the most recognizable names in the sport. The list includes UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, surging UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan, and former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.
Hell, even
one of Tom Aspinall’s most infamous UFC moments came from an interview with Nina Drama.
Daniele, who started creating UFC content back in 2022 and continues to interview some of the biggest stars in the sport today, is certainly good at what she does. Some fight fans believe the 37-year-old internet personality has used her good looks to rise to the top, but the content speaks for itself. In fact, her recent UFC 329 interview with Conor McGregor currently has over 1 million views on YouTube.
During a recent interview with Spinnin Backfist, White was asked about UFC’s current top stars and couldn’t help himself in mentioning Daniele and the influence she has had. Check it out below:
“Top stars? Jon Jones is still around, you have (Sean) O’Malley, Merab (Dvalishvili) has done very well and has become a star, Islam (Makhachev) absolutely,” said White.
“(Arman Tsarukyan is up there) absolutely, Arman definitely is. I’ll tell you what, that guy has done a great job of getting out there and getting himself a lot of attention and a lot of Nina Drama work.
“If you look at the people that have been built, it is impossible to deny that Nina Drama has helped build some of these guys,” he added. “From Merab to Sean Strickland, Arman, these guys are smart, they lean into the relationship with her.”
