UFC’s Revenue Jump to $394M Helps TKO Group Holdings Q2: UFC 300 and WrestleMania 40 Exceed Expectations

TKO Group HoldingsUFC’s Revenue exceeded expectations after UFC 300 and 303 outpaced expectations. The TKO Group Holdings stock surged in combination…

TKO Group Holdings

UFC’s Revenue exceeded expectations after UFC 300 and 303 outpaced expectations. The TKO Group Holdings stock surged in combination with WWE’s WrestleMania 40.

UFC’s Revenue and TKO Group Holdings

With site fees, sponsorships, and live events, the UFC’s revenue climbed to $394 million, an increase of nearly thirty percent, during the quarter. MMA Journalist John S. Nash reported on X, formerly Twitter:

Halfway through the year and UFC revenues are up in every revenue category but consumer products. Revenues for 1st 6 months is $707.4m and adjusted EBITDA is $$427m, a modest 60% margin.

TKO Group Holdings leader Ariel Emanuel said:

“TKO generated strong financial results in the quarter, highlighted by record quarterly revenue and Adjusted EBITDA. In light of this continued momentum, we are raising our full year 2024 guidance for the second quarter in a row. The strength in our underlying business continues to give us great conviction in TKO’s ability to deliver sustainable long-term value for shareholders.” [Ht MMAMania]

Who owns the UFC Dana White Ari Emanuel TKO Group Holdings

The stock TKO Group Holdings is a combination of the UFC and WWE, with Endeavor owning a piece of both the UFC and WWE. For the quarter, reported by Variety, TKO’s total revenue was $851 million with a net income of $150 million and adjusted EBITDA of $420 million. TKO bumped up its 2024 revenue target by about $60 million to somewhere between $2.67 billion and $2.74 billion.

This is the most successful period in the organization’s history. TKO Group Holdings success was largely driven by the blockbuster UFC 300, UFC 303, and WrestleMania 40. Overall, it means the UFC is having a great year and breaking records. This is the highest revenue the company has put together.

UFC and WWE officially merge under TKO Group banner, reveals details on potential crossovers

WWEThe UFC and WWE are officially under one roof as a merger bringing the two brands together under a new banner has officially closed. Endeavor, the parent company of both the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment announced on Tuesday that the two global entities will be publicly traded under the newly-launched company, TKO Group. As […]

WWE

The UFC and WWE are officially under one roof as a merger bringing the two brands together under a new banner has officially closed.

Endeavor, the parent company of both the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment announced on Tuesday that the two global entities will be publicly traded under the newly-launched company, TKO Group. As reported by ESPN, Endeavor will own 51% of the new company and WWE shareholders will own 49% with a valuation of $21.4 billion. Vince McMahon, the former controlling shareholder and chairman of WWE will act as the executive chairman of TKO with Nick Khan on board as the WWE President.

Instead of holding onto his role as the UFC President, Dana White will now be the UFC CEO while Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel will be CEO of TKO.

“Where we want to get is where every UFC fan is a WWE fan and every WWE fan is a UFC fan,” UFC senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein told ESPN.

Vince McMahon had been reportedly looking to sell his pro wrestling empire for some time and strongly began to consider Endeavor after attending UFC 276 last year alongside Khan, McMahon’s daughter Stephanie, and the pro wrestling powerhouse’s CCO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.

Though their industries may offer vastly different products, both Vince McMahon and Dana White came from humble beginnings and grew their respective businesses into global billion-dollar empires that rely heavily on presentation, promotion, and live events.

“We’ve always thought there was just an incredible opportunity to sort of roll up these two great brands and great organizations in the combat sports space,” Epstein said. “We were a little bit early in our thinking on this thing. And of course, it’s really exciting and really a dream come true to have this come together.”

Can UFC Fans Expect to See Fighters Crossover with WWE and Vice Versa?

At this time, there are no plans for any significant changes with either organization. Dana White will continue to run day-to-day operations for the UFC while Levesque will remain as the creative head for the WWE. One possibility, according to Epstein, is that the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment could begin promoting back-to-back events on the same weekend, selling them to cities as a package deal.

Crossovers could also become more prevalent between the two organizations. In the past, fans have seen current WWE Superstars like Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey make their mark inside the Octagon and vice versa. UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier, who is an admittedly big fan of WWE, has even appeared for the promotion in a guest referee role.

“UFC fighters are gonna stay focused on the UFC and WWE superstars obviously do something different in our ring,” Nick Khan said. “… but you also see in the UFC people with big personalities who, once their UFC run is done, once the UFC and the fighter says, ‘Hey, maybe now’s the time to call it a day,’ could those people have a longer life at WWE, an extended life with TKO? We think so.”

Are you excited to see what the future holds for the UFC and the WWE now that they are under the same banner?

UFC Rankings Update: Tyron Woodley Rises On Pound-For-Pound List

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the days following last weekend’s (Sat., September 8, 2018) UFC 228 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. In the card’s headliner, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley submitted touted rising challenger Darren Till to become the longest-reigning current UFC champion. For his efforts, he earned a massive one […]

The post UFC Rankings Update: Tyron Woodley Rises On Pound-For-Pound List appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the days following last weekend’s (Sat., September 8, 2018) UFC 228 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

In the card’s headliner, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley submitted touted rising challenger Darren Till to become the longest-reigning current UFC champion. For his efforts, he earned a massive one spot rise on the pound-for-pound list, putting him behind Conor McGregor, Max Holloway, and Georges St-Pierre.

McGregor has been out of action for almost two years and will return at October’s UFC 229. Holloway had a dominant 2017 but has since seen three high-profile fights fall apart in the first seven months of 2018 with his health now a major question. St-Pierre has fought once in the last nearly five years, most recently defeating a now-retired Michael Bisping before promptly vacating the title last November.

All are amazing fighters to be certain, but it’s also safe to ask if Woodley is getting his fair due as one of the most decorated and dominant champions of the current era. It’s also safe to ask if the UFC rankings are a legitimate picture of what’s really going on in the sport because of it.

But that’s a larger discussion for another time. In terms of other movement, women’s featherweight champion Cris Cybrog and flyweight champion Henry Cejudo moved up one spot each on the pound-for-pound list, pushing middleweight champ Robert Whittaker down two spots.

Two women’s divisions saw a ton of movement in the fallout of UFC 228. Surging strawweight Tatiana Suarez rose five spots to No. 4 for her dominant TKO win over former champion Carla Esparza, who fell two spots to No. 8. Jessica Andrade held firm at No. 2 following her KO of Karolina Kowalkiewicz, who fell one spot to No. 5.

At flyweight, a mess was incited when former champion Nicco Montano was hospitalized before the UFC 228 weigh-ins. The promotion stripped her of the title and her scheduled opponent Valentina Shevchenko became the No. 1-ranked fighter at 125 pounds. Montano fell two spots to No. 2, Sijara Eubanks did the same to No. 4, and the rest of the Top 15 slid as a result.

Check out the fully updated rankings via UFC.com here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Conor McGregor
3 TJ Dillashaw
4 Max Holloway
5 Georges St-Pierre
6 Tyron Woodley +1
7 Demetrious Johnson -1
8 Khabib Nurmagomedov
9 Stipe Miocic
10 Cris Cyborg +1
11 Henry Cejudo +1
12 Robert Whittaker -2
13 Tony Ferguson
14 Amanda Nunes
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Sergio Pettis
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 Ray Borg
5 Jussier Formiga
6 Deiveson Figueiredo
7 John Moraga
8 Wilson Reis
9 Dustin Ortiz +1
10 Alexandre Pantoja -1
11 Brandon Moreno
12 Ben Nguyen
13 Tim Elliott
14 Matheus Nicolau
15 Ulka Sasaki

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 Aljamain Sterling +1
8 John Dodson -1
9 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 Alejandro Perez
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Douglas Silva de Andrade
15 Rani Yahya

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Renato Moicano
5 Chad Mendes
6 Jeremy Stephens
7 Cub Swanson
8 Josh Emmett
8 Mirsad Bektic +1
10 Chan Sung Jung
11 Alexander Volkanovski
12 Ricardo Lamas
13 Darren Elkins
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
15 Yair Rodriguez -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Dustin Poirier
4 Eddie Alvarez
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Al Iaquinta
10 Nate Diaz
11 Michael Chiesa
12 James Vick
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Dan Hooker
15 Islam Makhachev

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington (Interim Champion)
2 Darren Till
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Robbie Lawler
6 Kamaru Usman
7 Demian Maia
8 Neil Magny
9 Jorge Masvidal
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Leon Edwards
12 Donald Cerrone
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Alex Oliveira
15 Curtis Millender

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson
7 David Branch
8 Paulo Costa
9 Israel Adesanya
10 Brad Tavares
11 Antonio Carlos Junior
12 Thiago Santos
13 Uriah Hall
14 Elias Theodorou
15 Krzysztof Jotko

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Ilir Latifi
4 Jan Blachowicz
5 Jimi Manuwa
6 Corey Anderson
7 Ovince Saint Preux
8 Glover Teixeira
9 Anthony Smith
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Mauricio Rua
12 Dominick Reyes
13 Patrick Cummins
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Sam Alvey

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Derrick Lewis
3 Curtis Blaydes
4 Francis Ngannou
5 Alexander Volkov
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Junior Dos Santos
8 Mark Hunt
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Tai Tuivasa
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Stefan Struve
14 Shamil Abdurakhimov
15 Justin Willis

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Tatiana Suarez +5
5 Karolina Kowalkiewicz -1
6 Tecia Torres -1
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Carla Esparza -2
9 Felice Herrig -1
10 Cortney Casey
11 Nina Ansaroff
12 Alexa Grasso
13 Randa Markos
14 Angela Hill
15 Mackenzie Dern

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Nicco Montano -2
3 Katlyn Chookagian
4 Sijara Eubanks -2
5 Alexis Davis
6 Liz Carmouche
6 Roxanne Modafferi -2
8 Lauren Murphy -1
9 Jessica Eye -1
10 Jessica-Rose Clark -1
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith -1
12 Joanne Calderwood -1
13 Mara Romero Borella -1
14 Andrea Lee -1
15 Jennifer Maia

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Irene Aldana +1
12 Lina Lansberg -1
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Gina Mazany

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UFC Fight Pass Adds Pancrase and Seven Other Promotions, Still Kind of Sucks As a Digital Service

(“What was your question? Are we looking to buy the entire Internet? I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”/Photo via Getty)
UFC’s digital subscription service, Fight Pass, has its fair share of pros and cons. The cost isn’t all that damaging to the wallet, but it’s not exactly the game-changer promotion officials thought it would be.

Without knowing too much about subscriber info and profits, the network allows you to watch free UFC cards, including FOX Sports 1 events, preliminary fights, and exclusive Fight Pass broadcasts that usually take place outside of North America. It also has an extensive UFC library, containing an abundance of full main cards from UFC, Pride, WEC, EliteXC, and those two Affliction MMA cards that were surprisingly fun.

(“What was your question? Are we looking to buy the entire Internet? I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”/ Photo via Getty)

UFC’s digital subscription service, Fight Pass, has its fair share of pros and cons. The cost isn’t all that damaging to the wallet, but it’s not exactly the game-changer that promotion officials thought it would be.

The network allows you to watch free UFC cards, including FOX Sports 1 events, preliminary fights, and exclusive Fight Pass broadcasts that usually take place outside of North America. It also carries an extensive UFC library, containing an abundance of full main cards from UFC, as well as Pride, WEC, EliteXC, and those two Affliction MMA cards that were surprisingly fun, among others.

After reports surfaced that hackers stole login info and credit card numbers from tens of thousands of subscribers late last month (which confirms that early security concerns were never fully addressed), fight fans were met with a better announcement, as Zuffa announced hours before UFC 182 it has acquired eight fight libraries from well-known international and regional promotions, including legendary Japanese outfit Pancrase, as well as King of The Cage, HookNShoot, TKO, Cage Rage, Extreme Challenge, UCMMA, and XFO.

UFC Chief Content Officer Marshall Zelaznik announced the news in a press conference on Saturday, revealing that over 13,000 individual bouts are slated to be added to Fight Pass this upcoming spring. The content comes from the brain of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who apparently made his own list of what promotions he wanted to see on the digital service (according to MMA Fighting).
After news broke that hackers stole login info and credit card numbers from tens of thousands of subscribers a few days ago (which really speaks volumes about the lack of security), fight fans were met with a better announcement, as Zuffa announced hours before UFC 182 it has acquired eight fight libraries from renown and regional promotions, including legendary Japanese promotion Pancrase (complete library), King of The Cage, HookNShoot, TKO, Cage Rage, Extreme Challenge, Ultimate Challenge MMA (UCMMA), and XFO.

But there’s still a lot to complain about, after the jump:


(“What was your question? Are we looking to buy the entire Internet? I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”/ Photo via Getty)

UFC’s digital subscription service, Fight Pass, has its fair share of pros and cons. The cost isn’t all that damaging to the wallet, but it’s not exactly the game-changer that promotion officials thought it would be.

The network allows you to watch free UFC cards, including FOX Sports 1 events, preliminary fights, and exclusive Fight Pass broadcasts that usually take place outside of North America. It also carries an extensive UFC library, containing an abundance of full main cards from UFC, as well as Pride, WEC, EliteXC, and those two Affliction MMA cards that were surprisingly fun, among others.

After reports surfaced that hackers stole login info and credit card numbers from tens of thousands of subscribers late last month (which confirms that early security concerns were never fully addressed), fight fans were met with a better announcement, as Zuffa announced hours before UFC 182 it has acquired eight fight libraries from well-known international and regional promotions, including legendary Japanese outfit Pancrase, as well as King of The Cage, HookNShoot, TKO, Cage Rage, Extreme Challenge, UCMMA, and XFO.

UFC Chief Content Officer Marshall Zelaznik announced the news in a press conference on Saturday, revealing that over 13,000 individual bouts are slated to be added to Fight Pass this upcoming spring. The content comes from the brain of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who apparently made his own list of what promotions he wanted to see on the digital service (according to MMA Fighting).

Now, the Pancrase library certainly gets us giddy, seeing that their current events are pretty difficult to find, without the availability to download those events after they take place. The rest is a nice treat, yet we’re still holding out for Yamma and Rhode Island Vale Tudo. With that said, Fight Pass is starting to shape up as definitive library of MMA fights from the most important promotions, and it’s apparently still growing.

This comes not too long after UFC’s inclusion of Invicta FC events, providing streaming of live events and past showcases from the leading all-female MMA promotion. We could really do without exclusive shows like The Ultimate Fighter: Whatever Country We’re In and MMA Mindset, but variety is never a bad thing.

On the other hand, this also means a boatload of free content will likely be pulled from YouTube and other free streaming sites. Zuffa legal teams will be out in full force and prohibiting fans from watching some old Bas Rutten and Frank Shamrock Pancrase fights because they now own that material.

In spite of that, it still feels like Fight Pass is “under construction,” since the search tool is fairly problematic; you’d think the service could at least rank the bouts you’re looking for in chronological order. It’s also incredibly glitchy, with a lot of complaints about getting bounced out of a live broadcast, only to have to sign back in. There are rewind functions, but it’s kind of annoying to be asked to log in again after the site freezes and have to reenter your password during the critical moments of a fight.

Also, for those that think pro wrestling isn’t direct competition to MMA, think again. Fight Pass was overshadowed by the WWE Network days after its launch, which isn’t doing so good itself, according to pundits. The reason WWE stole the glory was their inclusion of the 12 PPV events they put on a year (including WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series), not to mention countless hours of WCW and ECW footage. By comparison, the UFC didn’t even have their complete fight library posted at first (nor did they have as much Pride material, which is sort of a deal-breaker if you’re going to monopolize the online MMA world). For what it’s worth, Japan’s top wrestling promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling, launched its own digital network a few weeks ago, called NJPW World. The cost is similar, and since Puroresu is rising in North America, it’s a lot more compelling to watch old Antonio Inoki contests from decades ago, instead of an Ultimate Bigfoot Silva collection.

If that’s not enough, there’s no indication the new additions will help generate more subscribers. It’s a nice bonus for the MMA diehards who are already staying up all night to watch international UFC cards on the Internet, but is it a true selling point for those who are still on the fence? If the UFC was willing to take a little bit of a pay cut to include a couple of PPV events on the network, then the service would be a must for your typical UFC enthusiast. But apparently, PPV isn’t dead, despite more and more people cancelling their cable subscriptions in favor of laptops and HDMI wires.

Oh, and one other thing … word on the streets is that UFC had geoblocked the prelims for Canadian fans this past weekend, presumably in attempt to get Canucks to sign up for specialty channels like The Fight Network. Stemming from the new deal UFC signed for their Canadian broadcasts, this would absolutely suck if you had to pay extra to watch a handful of prelim bouts that you used to watch for free when the UFC was on Sportsnet.

I’d like to think all these issues will be resolved this year, but pessimism is one of my favorite pastimes.

Alex G.

Strikeforce Feijao TKOs King Mo

King Mo was defeated via TKO after first being caught with a nice series of offense from the Brazilian. First Mo drove Feijao into the cage and followed with a great body shot. Feijao has the Thai clinch and delivers two knees to Mo’s head. The first one misses, the second one staggers Mo. He […]

King Mo was defeated via TKO after first being caught with a nice series of offense from the Brazilian. First Mo drove Feijao into the cage and followed with a great body shot. Feijao has the Thai clinch and delivers two knees to Mo’s head. The first one misses, the second one staggers Mo. He stumbles backwards and Feijao grazes Mo’s chin with a reaching hook. It was probably more of a stumble, but Mo was rocked badly. Feijao follows with rabbit punches that keep Mo dazed, but the wrestler goes to what he knows and secures a single leg and pushes Feijao to the cage. Feijao kicks his hips out with Mo leaning on Feijao all the while Feijao is dropping hammerfists and now moves to elbows to the side of Mo’s noggin. Mo is doing nothing and then his arm goes limp. Big John McCarthy stops the fight in the second round.

Other fight recaps:

Tim Kennedy got robbed against Jacare Souza (in my opinion), but it was a razor close fight. However, Kennedy did the most variety of things.

George Gurgel got manhandled by KJ Noons and was KOd.

Bobby Lashley was beat by Chad Griggs in a 2nd round TKO. Very similar fight in the King Mo Fejao fight. Both guys were beaten while attempting and leaning in for a double leg while getting hammer fisted and elbowed from above. Weird.