ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reports that there were “significant layoffs” at the UFC. The layoffs were expected per the tweet.
MMA Fighting adds that multiple sources have indicated that 60-80 employees would be let go. The report indicates that the UFC had employed “approximately 350 people” prior to the work force reduction. The layoffs are not just taking place at UFC’s Las Vegas headquarters but across the company’s overseas offices as well. The layoffs also include high-ranking executives according to MMA Fighting sources.
The news comes just 3 months after the UFC was sold to WME-IMG for $4 billion. In recent weeks, longtime UFC matchmaker Joe Silva announced that he would leave the company and PR executive Dave Sholler left for a job with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.
Payout Perspective:
While the UFC broke ground on a 180,000 sqare-foot Las Vegas campus late last year which might have inferred expansion, the layoffs were likely to happen with the transition in leadership. With the change, it seems as though there is an effort to streamline the company and cut costs. We will see how deep the cuts will be and whether the losses will affect events and/or the fighters.
Wow not good, tough times ahead to make that fat investment back.
There is absolutely no way to spin this as anything other than a warning of things to come. Credit where credit is due, McGregor is filling seats and selling PPVs, no one can take that away from him…though he is the one fighter who transcends the brand right now. Ratings are down, way down, fighters are leaving, federal agencies are warning of high risk sales and defaults to Goldman Sachs, and now significant global layoffs…..the UFC is a star loss away from being just another promotion. If they lose McGregor, you will see the lowest interest in that organization since the 90s.
Wil the only way that d can spin this is that the people being fired were just friends of the fertitas and Dana who worked cushy jobs and sucked up salary.
This is not a sign of any type of business failure, it is a change of course within the organization. They are replacing Zuffa execs with WME execs and changing strategy.
Do you boxing t.rolls get paid to do this?
Ratings have been down 2 weeks idiot and that’s because the cards weren’t great you had Dodson-Liniker. Then 204 prelims but the Cyborg fight just drew over a million in ratings, for a card featuring mainly Brazilians, that was the week before the Dodson fight.
If WME feel they can have guys in house that can do both then what’s the point in 2 guys that both can do the same job?
Typical business move. Remember, when Zuffa ran things they were running from a perspective of complete profit. They can have waste and it not be a problem. This new company has to remove the waste because they are starting out 4 Billion in the hole! Also Zuffa was notorious for surrounding themselves with people in their circle and people they related to. I mean it’s not hard to find many examples of them hiring or promoting people from the Boston/New England area. From fighters to Rogan himself. How much was that going on at the corporate office? How much work are former fighters like Highes and Liddell really doing there? Not to mention there is departments Zuffa had that This company already has in place.
If this was a bad sign this soon the sell would have never been made. But this is why sells are made. You buy companies that you see can be improved. Seeing ways to increase revenue and cut expenses makes a company more interesting if you can spot and execute those possibilities! I have turned down purchasing business where they wanted a commitment to keep their employees on. That limits the potential I saw in that business and prevents me from doing it my way to the point I was be stuck running things the old way, a less efficient and effective way. So I declined. This conpany is trying to do the ufc their way, the way they invisioned when they though of future possibilities. Releasing people and replacing people is part of that. We will see if they are right or wrong of their way works or not.
total sign of mismanagement and lack of proper evaluation by Zuffa, Its obvious the amount of business they are doing can not support the amount of employees they have. Spin it any way you want its business 101. Fastest growing sport bahahahahahahhahahahahaha
Here we go.