UFC president Dana White said reports of the promotion being on the market are not true, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “the UFC is not for sale”.
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The MMA world was sent into minor upheaval earlier tonight (Tues., May 10, 2016) when a report surfaced from ESPN’s Darren Rovell that the UFC was allegedly in “advanced talks” to sell the company to a host of four potential bidders.
After purchasing the UFC for $2 million in 2001, the pair formed Zuffa LLC and named with the younger Lorenzo, as Chief Operating Officer.
In December, Lorenzo Fertitta told CNN that the UFC grossed around $600 million in revenue previous year. Chief among them is Dalian Wanda Group (DWG), a Chinese-based company whose chairman, Wang Jianlin, is worth an estimated $35 billion.
In January, Dalian Wanda Group became the first Chinese company to become owners of a major Hollywood film studio when it agreed to buy Legendary Entertainment from Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner Thomas Tull for about $3.5 billion.
– Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reports that Anderson Silva is being forced to withdraw from this Saturday’s UFC 198 card in in Curitiba, Brazil.
UFC President Dana White is known for his penchant to respond to the media in a less than nice fashion.
Can’t get enough of Campus Sports? It began moving into sports with a major Federation Internationale de Football Association sponsorship through 2030.
Ari Emanuel, the co-CEO of WME, is very close with White and UFC co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.
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More on this breaking news as it happens. The company made a shitload of money in the past year after Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey emerged as legitimate superstars, but is also facing an antitrust lawsuit and a variety of questions related to the sustainability of its business model.
