UFC Sold $4b

[ABitWoofy]

Finally, the worst kept secret in the MMA world has been confirmed. Fertitta's and Dana still possess small percentage in the ownership group. Dana to stay on as President.

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/ufc-sold-for-4-billion

 

[Jab]

Finally, the worst kept secret in the MMA world has been confirmed. Fertitta's and Dana still possess small percentage in the ownership group. Dana to stay on as President.

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/ufc-sold-for-4-billion

Wow. Even when you knew that it was coming it's still huge news! Largest sporting sale if reports are correct. It also sounds like the Fertitta's are out completely?

Dana just wanted to keep a lid on it until UFC 200 and international fight week.

 

[DazalenkoUBewty]

Sale timed to perfection imo.

 

[bkozican]

It makes you wonder...Does the UFC as a mainstream sport have a shelf life?

 

[Jab]

It makes you wonder...Does the UFC as a mainstream sport have a shelf life?

If the Ali act comes in unchanged and applies to MMA then things will be interesting. Also, if there is a ruling that the fighters are employees like other US sports then that will be another hurdle. The fighters Union won't change the appearance too much but it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[BradWCE]

I can't see how this will be good for the fighters. At best everything will be the same as it has been lately. It could be terrible for fighters if the buyers want to cut costs after paying so much to buy the UFC.

It seems pretty clear that Zuffa's actions to continually gain more control over the fighters was done for this end point.

I saw an MMA journalist (forget who) mention how Zuffa has done a lot of good for MMA. Without them where would MMA be right now? Either not around any more or still very small. They also pointed out that Zuffa has always looked out for themselves which has hurt the fighters financially. It's a really mixed legacy filled with a lot of good and bad.

 

[Ross]

Cost-cutting from the new UFC owners really kicked in to gear this week. A bunch of long-time Zuffa staff were let go, including several execs and heads of departments. There's also a lot of talk that they're going to scale way back on events held outside the US. There's 15 non-US events scheduled for this year and there were 18 last year, they may drop that figure to less than five in 2017. Those events wouldn't be replaced with more US events either, meaning a shredding of the fighter roster is probably coming up.

 

[bkozican]

Wonder what that means for ppvs and the fox fight night cards?

 

[Barry Roundhouse]

Seems like they are looking to maximise profit rather than grow the sport. Zuffa seemed to have a long term plan where they could cash in on yearly profits further down the track.

The new regime seems to be looking to turn over the maximum amout of profit per year in the short term and let the sport spread organically.

Disappointing strategy imo. Will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Dignan]

Think the reduction in card numbers will ultimately be a good thing.

Some people are going to lose their jobs, which is obviously pretty shitty, but I think card quality has somewhat suffered of late. I'm definitely in the camp of 'less frequent, more stacked' is best. I mean, a fight night card where Barao and Nover are the co-main? You're kinda just watching because it's the UFC and it's on, not because you're particularly excited by the line-up.

There's a good sherdog article on it.

 

[Hu$tler]

Where's McGregor's cut????