One big, happy family.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will merge with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to form a new, publicly-traded company controlled by Endeavor Group following a multi-billion dollar deal that was announced on Monday, referred to as “UFC 2.0” by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.
Read the official announcement here.
Purists (on both sides) hoping WWE and UFC will operate independently and without influence from one another are likely to be disappointed. Crossovers and collaborations we’ve seen in the past from the likes of Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, and CM Punk, just to name a few, are expected to continue “when appropriate” under the new deal.
“You saw Brock Lesnar go from WWE to UFC, where he become its heavyweight champion, then come back to WWE. You saw Ronda Rousey and her amazing run with the UFC come over to WWE. Daniel Cormier was a special guest referee for us in our October premium live event this past year. Opportunities like that will continue,” WWE CEO Nick Khan told OutKick.
“That said, both businesses are going to be run separately. Dana White will, of course, continue to run the UFC,” Khan continued. “We have deep relationships with the guys over there, from Dana to Craig Borsari to Lawrence Epstein. We will be looking to collaborate with them when appropriate. Right now, we want to focus on getting WWE integrated and situated with the company.”
Performance centers and international media rights were two of the biggest advantages of selling to Endeavor, according to Khan, along with sales and sponsorship and government subsidies (or site fees) for some of the promotion’s bigger events. I’m sure getting an available talent pool that hovers around the 500+ mark doesn’t hurt either.
Expect more news and notes on the WWE-UFC partnership in the coming weeks.