Top 10 of 2021: No. 1 UFC business is booming

It is no surprise that the success of the UFC is the number 1 MMA business story of the year. 

Both Disney and Endeavor have praised the UFC in their respective earnings calls.  Disney touts the UFC for its increase in subscribers to ESPN+.  Notably, UFC PPV events on ESPN+ went from $64.99 to $69.99 prior to UFC 257 in January which was the return of Conor McGregor.  Regardless, the UFC has seen top PPV buys on ESPN digital this year.  With the $5 increase came more revenues.

The return of Conor McGregor for 2 fights likely aided the interest in the UFC and its revenue. In 2020, Disney CEO Bob Iger praised McGregor for a bump in subscribers to the digital platform. 

In the Endeavor earnings call, they note the historically good business for the company:

In its last earnings call, Endeavor touted the UFC sports property for growing its business.  Its EPITDA of $134.7 million. The UFC has experienced exponential growth in its sponsorship stable securing official sponsors in many segments. 

See below:

Timex

IconMeals

Love Hemp

Stake.com

Crypto.com

Sweet Sweat

The Memento Group

Battle Motors

Pedalcommander

Easypost

Gopuff

Ziprecruiter

In June, Endeavor sports properties grew 22% to $283.5 million in the first quarter of 2021, due to more events and higher media rights and sponsorship fees.  Its second quarter outperformed analyst expectations buoyed in part by the UFC and the return to live events with fans.

The company aims to push to do more things in the Meta verse and is making a push with new technology such as the latest move to solicit NFTs.  Its last PPV of the year was one of the first times that the company has advertised NFTs from the UFC. 

How much more can the UFC push?  If there is no impact from the pandemic, the UFC will increase in revenue due to attendance which has been outstanding since spectators were allowed back into venues.  The PPV business will do well assuming we see the return of Conor McGregor as well as stacked title cards.  Also, the company has done well with Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman on top of cards.