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People and Pop Culture

Minding My Business With UFC Exec VP/Operations & Production Craig Borsari

Borsari tries to unwind by taking vacations with
his wife and two children
Name: Craig Borsari

Age: 40

Position: UFC Exec VP/Operations & Production

Where I'm from: Fullerton, Calif.

Where I call home: Las Vegas

Focusing on right now: Our three events coming up Dec. 10-12 -- UFC Fight Night, The Ultimate Fighter Finale and UFC 194. We've never done three events in three days.

Best advice: It’s simple -- hire the right people. I oversee a broad group of people and functions, and it is critical that you've got the right people who head up the different divisions. I feel like we have that here. Surround yourself with people who excel in their expertise or their skill set.

A must for a new hire: I look for people who are team players. Another thing is people who will own their mistakes. For us, in such a fast-paced industry that's ever-changing, it's important that you have a team that will pick each other up and work collaboratively across the company to execute what is needed to be done. We may have a task that takes a 180° on us. and we need to be able to react to that. People who try to pass on blame, it becomes a negative impact on the entire team.

Person I admire most: My father, ALAN. A lot of who I am as a person and my character is a result of my dad and my upbringing. When things can get stressful, whether it's personal or business related, to have a conversation with my father to keep things in perspective is a great thing to have. I draw knowledge from him a lot.

Best book I've read: "Think Like a Freak," by STEPHEN DUBNER and STEVEN LEVITT. It's an amazing book that looks at how to problem-solve in a completely different way. It looks at how to approach a challenge and overcome it.

First thing in the morning: Because we're a global business, I'll knock out emails from overnight from our international businesses. Another ritual for me is working out after I drop the kids off at school. It's a great way to get your body and mind in the right perspective to start the day. I feel like I'm cheating myself if I don't get it done.

Talking tech: Not all advancements in our space can and should be applied to sports broadcasting. A good example is 3D. We dabbled in it, did two live events in 3D. It wasn't the right technology for us and our fan base. Virtual reality is out there right now and we're trying to explore if it's something that's going to be like 3D was or if it's going to be something more like HD and 4K.

Must-have music: If I'm in chill-out mode, I'll listen to a lot of JIMMY BUFFETT. I know I sound like an old man, but I like it. If I'm working out, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS.

Food for thought: I'm a pretty adventurous eater. Living in Las Vegas, a city that has maybe the widest range of great cuisine in the world, is really nice for me. If you look at just this city alone, Hearthstone Kitchen & Cellar and Estiatorio Milos. There are some unbelievable restaurants. There isn't a type or style of food that I don't like.

How I unwind: For work I travel quite a bit, so for me the best way to unwind and spend personal time is to be with my wife and my two kids. It could be anything from being on vacation or just hanging out playing sports with them. We recently went to Hawaii -- probably the best family vacation we've had.

Day in the life: Our biggest challenge on event night is managing the clock. A unique aspect to our sport is that we have, on a PPV night in December, we'll have five fights that are scheduled to be within that broadcast. But the minute we start our first fight, we don't know if it's going to go 20 seconds or three, five-minute rounds. Other sports know that they're playing four quarters or two halves -- we don't.

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