Following the final episode of this season’s DWCS, UFC CEO Dana White spoke about the winner of the ‘matchmaker for a day’ sweepstakes, and announced that he was so impressed that the individual is now a full time employee with the organization.
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Joe Reeves was simply just one of many fans who entered the ‘matchmaker for a day’ sweepstakes, a contest put on by the UFC that would allow a fan to make a fight of their choosing happen on an upcoming card. But, it now seems that Reeves will join the organization for much more than a day, and will contribute to planning more than just one fight.
Since Joe Silva’s retirement, Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard have been handling most of the matchmaking responsibilities for the UFC. But, the decision to hire sweepstakes winner Joe Reeves to the team in a full-time capacity has added new blood to help manage all the moving parts of putting together fight cards week after week.
Dana White reveals UFC has hired a new matchmaker.
"He's a f*cking UFC lunatic. … He knows everybody on the roster."
Full video: https://t.co/tK87Ur9vnu pic.twitter.com/JgwjRGV3gW
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 11, 2023
“You wanna know how f****** good Joe is?” White asked at the Contender Series post-fight presser. “I just hired Joe. Joe works for us now. Yeah. This f****** kid is awesome.
“I literally just back there, I did all the contracts and I came back in and I said, ‘I got one more. You want to work for the UFC?’ He freaked out. He is a f****** UFC lunatic. He went toe-to-toe with the boys today, he knew every — bring up a guy on the roster he don’t know. He knows everybody on the roster and he actually did make a fight today. So, apparently — Lenee came into my office today raving about the kid, ‘Oh, this kid’s awesome, we love him,’ and this and that. He met a bunch of fighters in the P.I. today and one of ‘em was Cody Garbrandt. They were talking and I guess Garbrandt said, ‘Listen, if you’re the matchmaker for a day, I want a fight in December.’ So he came in and started pitching us on fights for Cody Garbrandt in December and he made a fight.”
–Dana White via post DWCS press conference
White was very impressed with Reeves’ extensive knowledge of the UFC, and was blown away at the fact that he ran with the opportunity to pitch the team on Cody Garbrandt’s next fight.
While no official opponent has been announced for Garbrandt, it seems that Reeves’ pitch was a success and the rest of the pieces should come together shortly.