11:31 AM EST

UFC President Dana White feels his work has just begun.
 
The outspoken Ultimate Fight head honcho realizes he needs to continue building UFC's mainstream acceptance. White commented, "Believe me, there’s plenty of challenges. People talk about how big we are and this and that. We haven’t even scratched the surface on how big this thing is going to be. We’re so far from mainstream - we have a lot of work to do ... We’re always aggressively pushing forward and trying to make this bigger every year. We’re not sitting around patting ourselves on the back saying 2007 was great. We’re already working on what we’re going to be doing in 2009 ... We scour the earth for the greatest talent in the sport and we do everything we can to get them into the UFC and get them exposure. That’s what we do: We build stars and we put on great fights.”
 
When asked by The Boston Herald about having to sell Mixed Martial Arts to the public as a mainstream sport in 2007, and continuing that progress in 2008, White stated, “We’re getting there ... The sport and the athletes were denied for so long, and we got to the point where it got so strong we couldn’t be denied anymore ...  Like I always say, we look at this thing long term ... We’re not like most boxing promoters who have tunnel vision, and it’s all about right here, right now and how much money I can make. We’re investing in the future of this sport.”