The word has been spreading for the past two months now that the UFC had been auctioned off to whoever the highest bidder was, but these claims were largely dismissed as rumors. However, it is now official, the UFC has been sold to WME – IMG for a staggering $4 billion which is a remarkable feat considering the fact that the UFC was just about worth $2 million when it was first bought or purchased by Zuffa back in the year 2000.
The claims that the UFC was being sold was, characteristically, flat out denied by Dana White who wasted no time in taking to twitter, as he often does, and lying to members of the MMA media. Despite Dana White’s rebuttal, the word that UFC had in fact already been sold to an investment group led by WME-IMG started doing the rounds again right after their iconic UFC fight night 200.
Only this week, a press release has confirmed that the speculation as true all along and that UFC has been sold from Zuffa to WME-IMG, Silver Lake, KKR and MSD capital post the completion of all paperwork for a figure right around $4 billion US dollars making this the biggest sale of a sports franchise in the history of sports.
What this means in terms of upper management and CEO is yet to be seen, but it seems likely that Lorenzo Feritta will step down as CEO and WME-IMG head Ari Emanuel may most probably take over.