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Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White is putting his money where his fighters’ tweets are.
In an unusual marketing gambit aimed at getting his mixed-martial arts fighters a wider audience among its key 18 to 34-year-old demographic, White will pay out $5,000 a quarter to fighters in each of four UFC divisions who increase their Twitter followers by the biggest number or log the biggest percentage increase, or craft the most creative tweets.
“We dove headfirst into the social-media boom,” White said yesterday during an interview in Midtown. He said he added the payouts to help lure some tech-phobic fighters out of their shells and get them out before their fans.
“Some people love social media, some people don’t,” he said. “But it’s good for them too; they have a built-in database of fans.”
The 41-year-old executive, who has seen his UFC enterprise log tremendous growth over its 18-year history, seemed none the worse for wear a few days after his latest attempt to get his MMA franchise legalized in New York failed earlier this week.
The state Assembly failed to vote an MMA-legalization bill out of its Ways & Means Committee. It was a blow to UFC, as it kept fights out of Madison Square Garden and other arenas in New York — one of just six states where White cannot bring his blood-and-guts road show.
White tried his damnedest to prove MMA’s worth. In a study unveiled in the run-up to the vote, its was reported that MMA fights would have brought $10 million-plus to the cash-starved state coffers.
White, who owns a 9 percent stake in the privately held venture, told The Post he’s been in New York this week negotiating future TV deals and figuring out ways to increase the sport’s social media presence and its revenue.
The company is owned by White’s pals Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, and the Abu Dhabi government- backed Flash Entertainment.
To give some idea how UFC is growing — with out New York state ap proval to conduct fights here — a live event in To ronto in May sold 55,000 tickets and grossed $12.8 million at the gate. In 2001, when White and the broth ers Fertitta acquired the company, it sold 3,500 tickets and rang up ticket sales of $115,000 in Atlantic City.
White is also showing his social media chops by airing its fights live to Facebook’s entire membership — which is in excess of 700 million.
The company, which already counts Anheuser-Busch as a sponsor, also just added Dodge as a new partner.
In addition to courting a new TV deal, UFC is reportedly in talks about taking a stake in NBCUniversal’s G4 channel, though White says he is still talking to everybody about potential deals but declined to discuss potential partners.
UFC’s current deal with Viacom’s Spike expires at the end of the year. A Showtime license agreement still has another two years to run. catkinson@nypost.com