By far the richest sale in the history of professional sports, the founders of UFC will be making a stunning profit since purchasing the “Ultimate Fighting Championships” for just USA $2.6 million in 1993.
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Rounding out the new ownership group are Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and MSD Capital, the investment firm of Dell founder Michael Dell.
IMG Co-CEOs Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell in a news release.
“Most importantly, our new owners share the same vision and passion for this organisation and its athletes”.
The UFC has built the sport of mixed martial arts into a main stream attraction throughout its 23 year history, and much of the credit for doing so should be handed to White and the Fertitta brothers. The sell would be the largest transaction for a sports organization of all time.
Under the new deal, IMG will serve as UFC’s operating partner, adding the MMA brand to its portfolio of more than 800 sports and entertainment events.
So, it’s the end of the ZUFFA era, which began back in 2001, when the Fertitta’s bought the UFC for just $2 million.
“As far as the business goes, our goal was to always take this sport to the next level, and Ari and WME-IMG are the guys to take it from here”, White told the Los Angeles Times. But it was WME-IMG, which already represents stars like Ms. Rousey in media rights and has represented U.F.C. itself, that emerged victorious. He and his brother, Frank, who each owned 40.5 percent of the company, will maintain “passive minority interest” in the UFC.
Even though there was a change in leadership at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), its new owner reassures the fighters of their role in the new management, and touts efforts to expand the organization’s global reach.
The takeover comes three months after NY became the last U.S. state to legalise live mixed martial arts fights, opening a lucrative market to UFC and its competitors.
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McGregor, who makes multiple millions for each of his fights, congratulated the Fertittas on his Twitter account.
