Zuffa is in advanced talks to sell the UFC according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell. The transaction could land the current owners $4 billion.
John Nash of Bloody Elbow and Jonathan Snowden of Bleacher Report had reported the possibility of the sale earlier this year.
There are at least four bids to purchase the organization including WME/IMG, China Media Capital, The Blackstone Group and Dalian Wanda Group.
Zuffa LLC headed by the Fertitta brothers and Dana White purchased the UFC for $2 million. The company is being valued at $3.5 to $4 billion.
Payout Perspective:
The fact Zuffa is fielding multiple offers is interesting considering it is still dealing with an antitrust lawsuit filed by former fighters as well as potential lobbying expenditures if an amendment is made to the Ali Act which would include mixed martial artists. One would think that prospective buyers would be concerned with these issues since it would be there responsibility once acquired. Of course, the UFC has succeeded in getting MMA legal in New York and withstood another FTC investigation. MMA Payout will keep you posted on the prospective buyers.
The Greatest says
HAHAHAHA
mma guru says
This is not news, I predicted this already
1. Zuffa sells UFC or Dana White is no longer running the organization in 2015
mma guru says
To keep everyone posted, these were my 2016 predictions. My record with 2015 predictions were close to being spot on with some trickling into 2016.
1. UFC will hold an event in New York at the MSG – ALREADY TRUE
2. Risen Fighting will hold one more event in Japan, than fold – I THINK THIS WILL BE TRUE
3. UFC signs second official sponsor company to help increase fighter pay – NOT YET
4. a) Boxing does not post a PPV with over 1 million buys the – SO FAR SO GOOD
b) UFC posts its first ever 2 million buy rate – WELL UFC 200 SHOULD HAVE
5. A MMA star hosts Saturday Night live – ALREADY TRUE
http://mmapayout.com/2016/01/ufc-195-attendance-gate-and-bonuses/
The Greatest says
I predicted the UFC would die,
They did.
The Greatest says
You posted 5 predictions with only 1 happening so far. The UFC in NYC hasn’t technically happen yet.
Combo says
Not surprised there are several companies interested in getting involved in the lucrative sport, which has earned a crazy return for the Zuffa. Good for them.
Will be interesting to see how things progress under new management.
Joey Garcia says
The Hedge Fund Baby made the better play. IMO Passion is lost once White leaves. Passion plays in Peoria it also Plays in Vegas. Or will it..
Shhh Google thecordcutterclub
Mmatruth says
Good for Zuffa if they can sell for what they want. Kinda sad as a UFC fan if they sell to a China company. I wonder what the new brand will be like.
d says
The weakest doesn’t comprehend what this means.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
This means someone else will own the company going forward. How does that mean it is dead. If anything, that means it succeeded to a level of expectation never imagined back when they bought it. 4b dollars is an insane amount of money for a fight promotion. That means it is worth literally something like 20x what the major boxing promotions are worth. The Chinese weren’t interested in buying those penny stocks. Hahahahhahaha. They wanted a money maker. Boxing promoters make pennies on the dollar. There’s no money in it. It is a dying business for a variety of reasons.
d says
I can’t imagine White going anywhere.
d says
White is flat out calling this a lie.
“The UFC is not for sale,” White told the Review-Journal on Tuesday evening. “The ESPN story is overblown. Darren Rovell is not a fan of facts. His facts could not be further off.”
http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/mma-ufc/ufc-president-dana-white-denies-espn-report-organization-s-sale
edi says
Chinese RMB leaving the mainland
Wanda Group own Legendary Ent, AMC & Hoyts cinemas, a piece of Athletico Madrid…..on and on
tops E says
Hahahahahahahahaha….loan due and station debts..they need the money poor poor poor…..fighters should demand new contracts before the sale hahahahahaha….
tops E says
No wonder rogans been saying he would retire if dw is no longer with the ufc…..decline stage….need to sell hahahahaha
The Greatest says
UFC isn’t worth $4B not even close. But a sell would ruin the sport.
People won’t support a Chinese ran UFC.
The UFC had its best financial year last year and are hoping investors will jump in since they are set to have a heavy decline this year.
Why do you think the UFC is trying to hold shows overseas?
The Greatest says
Saw this on another website—
No one can argue that the UFC has not rapidly changed in the last few years.
The only consistency in the divisions has been Mighty Mouse. Every other champion has been dispatched. It’s almost as if a reset button has been hit on the divisions.
The uniforms are completely different. The way signings are happening is completely different. Promotion is different. Broadcasting is different.
I think all these differences have been part of a long-term plan to sell the UFC overseas.
Drastic Changes In Weight Class Focus
One of the most interesting changes that has happened recently has been the large shift in weight class promotion.
For many years, light heavyweight and heavyweight were the weight classes in MMA.
Today, that is not the case. The UFC has placed much of the focus on lighter weight classes. All eyes are on the 145-pound division. Female divisions have been added. There is talk a men’s 115-pound division.
The heavyweight division itself is filled with older fighters. Not for a lack of talent, either. See the thread in Worldwide for a huge list of great fighters that could be signed.
This leads me to believe they are trying to appeal to a specific region of the world where there are few heavyweights: Asia.
Production As The Product, Not Fighters
Another occurrence in the UFC is that the product of the UFC is no longer fighters. It’s the production of the promotion instead.
With the recent departure of Benson Henderson and other popular fighters to different promotions, it is clear to me that the UFC does not care for the focus to ever be on fighters.
The UFC does not want people to tune in to see one fighter or another. They want people to tune in to see a specific style of MMA production and promotion.
This is evidenced by many fighters simply being tossed to the side when they have run their course. GSP is a perfect example of this, in my opinion. Despite being a company man for many years, they were content with throwing him to the side when they had no more use for him.
By shifting to selling the UFC as a product and no longer selling fighters as a product, it would appeal to foreign buyers.
The new owners would not have to worry about retaining specific fighters if the market tuned in for the UFC, not for any one fighter.
There will always be specific fighters promoted, and there is a need for specific fighters to be promoted short term, but compare how UFC promotes the event and how Pride promoted fighters.
The Conors, Rondas, Sages, and Paiges of the world are used for the UFC’s short term gain to boost numbers in 2015 and 2016.
Everything Is Becoming Generic
Again, this leads me to believe the UFC wants less marketing to be placed on any fighter and more emphasis on the show as a whole.
Fighter posters now look exactly the same to the point even Conor McGregor complained about it.
Fighter uniforms are now exactly the same with the Reebok deal, despite many fighters against it and clear backlash from dedicated fans.
Fight promos are exactly the same.
The more generic the UFC becomes, the easier it would be for a different company to run and handle things.
If the UFC creates a status quo that the market comes to expect which is entirely generic, a new owner would have no time doing more of the same.
Personalities Are Being Replaced Often
Just a few years ago, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were the voices of the UFC. While that is still true to an extent today, we are seeing a wide range of different announcers and personalities.
With a constant change of personalities, the UFC can effectively phase out expectations in production.
Once people acclimate to the commentators changing every card, no one will complain when a specific aspect of production is gone. Just like placing fighters in uniforms, the UFC is making other personalities generic.
Without being tied to any specific commentator or personality, a shift to new owners means it doesn’t matter if Rogan (or anyone) throws a fit. The fans won’t care because they no longer expect to see Rogan every time.
There Is A Hard Push For Globalization
Clearly the UFC is trying as hard as they can to expand their product across the globe. They are opening shows in new countries all the time, especially in the European markets.
They have created shows in Asia recently, such as the Philippines and Korea. One area they have not reached, though, is China.
China is not known for having a huge MMA scene right now, but that does not mean Asia is not filled with other promotions. ONE Championship does well in Asia. Road FC is growing. Rizin was recently formed.
With China lacking a real competitor in MMA, what could be more appealing than a buyout to instantly own the largest MMA promotion in the world?
Not only does the recent globalization of MMA make buying the UFC more lucrative, it means all the departments, systems, and talent that have been in place for other countries will also work to expand the UFC into China.
By purchasing the UFC as the company expands all over the globe, Chinese buyers would have no problem continuing that expansion into China.
We See Less Of Dana As President
Dana is becoming less important as a President of the UFC. He has already done his job extremely well. He brought the UFC to places that no one expected MMA to go. He got the investors, he built a huge brand, and he has spearheaded the new UFC model.
He is no longer needed for the UFC like he was in the past. It is the perfect chance for him to step out and be someone on the sidelines than to be an actual promoter or president.
Sholler, among others, often take care of press conferences and media scrums now. Dana plays reality TV with The Tooth and Serra which makes me think he is ready to transition into a different role, not as president.
Current Success Is A Peak
We all know that the UFC has grown in the last year. The rapid rise of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor broke many records. But they have lost.
On paper, the numbers have steadily climbed and projections would look amazing. To an outside company, especially some type of investment firm overseas that pays little attention to the actual fighters, the UFC is only going to keep breaking records.
MMA fans know UFC NYC is a one-time special event.
The numbers for 2015 were extremely hot because of Ronda and Conor. The numbers for 2016 will be down and the numbers for 2017 may look much worse in comparison.
If the UFC wanted to sell, they know that 2015 and 2016 will provide perfect data on paper. Realizing that this success may not duplicate in the next few years – especially as the FOX deal coming to an end – Dana and the Fertittas may know that if they were ever going to sell, there is no better time to start talks than the end of 2016.
The UFC’s new model, the generic promotion, the rapid global expansion, the (potentially) limited recent success, and treatment of personalities make me believe they could potentially sell as early as Q1 2017.
tops E says
Hahaha….good article…dw will leave his fanboys behind hahaha.
mmaguru says
With any sale, the owners usually stick around for a period of time. So I don’t see Dana going anywhere for a few years. We should also consider that this could be a partial sale. We know that in the past Zuffa sold 10% of the company to Flash Entertainment. This could be the same type of deal, where a valuation of the company is stated to be in the range of 3 billion + and that a buyer would need to chalk up about 1 billion to get a 33% share in the organization. It will all be flushed out within the year. My prediction will come to pass. This is why I am known as the guru.
tops E says
UFC made in china hahahaha….
d says
“UFC isn’t worth $4B not even close.”
If someone is willing to pay $4b for them, they certainly are. However, of course, these rumors seem like they may not even be true.
“But a sell would ruin the sport.
People won’t support a Chinese ran UFC.”
Your evidence of this is nothing, as usual.
“The UFC had its best financial year last year and are hoping investors will jump in since they are set to have a heavy decline this year.”
Decline??? Delusions of grandeur. They are going to have a massive year.
“Why do you think the UFC is trying to hold shows overseas?”
They’ve been holding shows overseas, genius. They’ve been expanding into the global market for years now as would anyone. It is called the global market.
d says
That was the dumbest article I’ve ever read. It falls in line with your thinking which is illogical nonsense. None of that is true, none of it is accurate.
The fact remains, there has been no sale. White is denying it, which would be strange if they were in advanced talks to sell. I remember hearing this stuff back when they sold that 10% to Flash Entertainment. They very well may just be selling a percentage of this elsewhere. Of course, then again, they may be selling it. Who knows? Regardless, if they sell it for 4b, that is astronomical and goes to show you the level of confidence the market is for mma and not boxing.
d says
Hahahaha. “I saw this on another website”, ie some blog comment by no one with credibility. Hahahahahahaha. Do you actually take yourself seriously?? Hahahahaha.
d says
Another thing that is interesting in all of this is the following:
“ESPN noted the value of UFC will rise when a new TV deal in 2019 is negotiated. ESPN reported the new TV deal could inject “$250 million in annual revenue to the bottom line, investors were advised.””
So that 100m per year, could and likely will be more than double what it is right now.
That’s impressive and goes to show how successful their numbers have been on cable. PBC on the other hand couldn’t get a PBA level contract. Hahaha.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-ufc-sale-report-overblown-officials-say-20160510-story.html
d says
*have been on FOX*
d says
“As far as the UFC being for sale, I’ve said this a million times, we get offers on the UFC all the time. It started in 2010. We got our first offer for the company, which was over $1 billion and we turned it down.”
“The day we decide to sell, I probably don’t want to do this anymore. I love this. I love this business. I love the sport. I jump out of bed everyday excited to go to work.”
“And listen, me and Fertitta brothers have been together a long time,” he observed. “We’re very close friends. We work well together. Something we did would be a mutual decision and we’d probably all be looking to get out.”
Sounds like they aren’t selling it.
d says
-Dana White, reported by mmafighting.com
tops E says
D is frantic hahaha
d says
Tops is imploding. Hahahaha. No sale, his head’s about to explode. Hahaha.
tops E says
So much explanation from d hahahaha
d says
12 word comments are too big for Tops to handle.
Joe says
Lol. D is going nuts