Tag: Ari Emanuel

Four Major Changes Coming From The UFC Sale

With the announced acquisition of the Ultimate Fighting Championship by the William Morris Endeavour – International Management Group, WME-IMG, and speculation has run rampant. The larger than life personality to meet Dana White at the helm of the UFC will be none other than Ari Emanuel, the man often touted as the most powerful agent

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With the announced acquisition of the Ultimate Fighting Championship by the William Morris Endeavour – International Management Group, WME-IMG, and speculation has run rampant. The larger than life personality to meet Dana White at the helm of the UFC will be none other than Ari Emanuel, the man often touted as the most powerful agent in Hollywood, alongside his longtime partner Patrick Whitesell. The pair have long, storied backgrounds in media representation on all fronts and larger than life personalities to match, specifically Emanuel.

Given their insightful reputation surrounding media properties, experts were surprised by the UFC’s sale price not only for the amount but for the fact that it was agreed upon by Emanuel and Whitesell, which alone speaks to the validity of the UFC’s deemed worth.

With Dana White’s experience and strong visionary qualities that have helped the UFC reach the heights in which it resides today, fans are curious to see how the addition of Emanuel and Whitesell will shape the organization going forward. Visionaries in their own right, the WME-IMG pair have connected the dots on the biggest media properties for years in terms of music, movies and sports- even having a hand in the sale of the UFC’s TV rights prior to the purchase.

In this article, we take a look at four distinct ways the UFC is about change following the sale. Given the hefty purchase price, the resources available by the new owners and the potential for more funding from it’s new equity partners like Silver Lake, the UFC is about to scale drastically and we outline exactly how they’ll do it.

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Dana White Reveals Plans Of New UFC Owners

With the UFC officially selling for a record setting $4 billion yesterday (July 11, 2016), many questions have arisen regarding the largest transaction in sports history. As for what specific changes will be implemented by new owners WME-IMG, the answer is currently unclear, although UFC President Dana White, who will remain in his role, recently

The post Dana White Reveals Plans Of New UFC Owners appeared first on LowKick MMA.

With the UFC officially selling for a record setting $4 billion yesterday (July 11, 2016), many questions have arisen regarding the largest transaction in sports history. As for what specific changes will be implemented by new owners WME-IMG, the answer is currently unclear, although UFC President Dana White, who will remain in his role, recently touched on the topic in a conversation with TMZ.com.

White continued to reiterate his idea that WME-IMG will take the UFC to the next level, and he claimed that the new owners will offer increased fighter pay, more sponsors, and increased opportunities for fighters outside of the cage:

“One of the things that we have always done since the day we have bought this company is we have taken this to the next level. I didn’t sleep too well last night. I was reading a lot of stuff and watching a lot of stuff, and obviously there was a lot of positive. But then there’s negative people out there, the naysayers, all this and that. Listen, this is gonna be massive,” White promised.

“Every year that we’ve owned this, fighter pay has gone up every year,” the UFC president continued. “I think that Ari (Emanuel), IMG, they’re gonna really bring in a lot more sponsors, there’s gonna be television and movie opportunities for these guys. Again, we’re just gonna continue to make this thing bigger globally and make this sport more popular. People can’t wrap their brains around the fact that we don’t even have scratched the surface of how big this sport’s gonna be. And Ari and his team get it, my team definitely gets it, and I’m ready.”

White once again confirmed that Emanuel, who is the head of the talent agency known as WME-IMG, will offer a plethora of different opportunities to hundreds of ‘talented’ fighters on the UFC:

“Absolutely. Listen, I come up with lots of content,” White said. “The library that I have from the past, the live fights, the ability to do all the different television shows, the talent that I have, I have 500 men and women under contract, talented people. Ari’s gonna help take that to the next level. I’m telling you guys. Look at these things that I said 15 years ago and listen to what I’m telling you today: Watch what happens in the next five years.”

What do you make of White’s latest comments?

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UFC Reportedly ‘Not Even Close’ To Being Sold

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is by far and large the biggest promoter of the rapidly expanding sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) today, and according to FloSports’ Jeremy Botter, the sport was about to change when the MMA powerhouse finalized a deal to be sold to the WME talent, agency, a Chinese media organiztion, and

The post UFC Reportedly ‘Not Even Close’ To Being Sold appeared first on LowKick MMA.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is by far and large the biggest promoter of the rapidly expanding sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) today, and according to FloSports’ Jeremy Botter, the sport was about to change when the MMA powerhouse finalized a deal to be sold to the WME talent, agency, a Chinese media organiztion, and a group lead by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft for the hefty price tag of $4.2 billion.

But if what sources close to the situation are reporting, that information is just simply not correct. According to a recent report from TMZ Sports, negotiations for the UFC to be sold are ongoing; but a deal ‘isn’t even close’ to being done to sell the company.

Contrary to Botter’s reports, it has yet to be determined if 100% ownership will be granted to the winning bidder and a price has yet to be successfully negotiated.

Botter also reported that a deal had been finalized between WME CEO Ari Emanuel, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, along with other UFC executives in a Hollywood dinner meeting on Sunday night. It was later discovered that Emanuel was not even in the country at the time of the supposed ‘dinner meeting’, and Fertitta, along with UFC President Dana White and Frank Fertitta, were all in Las Vegas the entire day.

So for now at least, the UFC is safe in the wealthy hands of the Fertitta family, and a deal to sell the promotion is far at bay for the time being.

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