Conor McGregor reacted to the sale on Twitter by saying: “I am honoured to have fought under the Fertitta regime!”
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Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the Ultimate Fighting Champion in 2000 for $2 million.
WME | IMG Co-CEOs Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell said: “We’ve been fortunate over the years to represent UFC and a number of its remarkable athletes”. White will stay on as president and be given a new stake in the business beyond the 9 percent share he held in the previous structure.
According to ESPN, the Abu Dhabi government still owns 10 percent of UFC as well.
The deal is valued at about $4 billion, Reuters reported earlier on Monday, citing a source.
The news about UFC being sold to WME-IMG was first reported by ESPN in late June, but initially, UFC president Dana White and others within the organization shot down the rumors surrounding the potential sale. The UFC became an awesome investment for the Casino entrepreneurs as they bought the company 16 years ago for just $2 million.
WME | IMG’s acquisition of the MMA’s biggest promotion will result in one-half of ZUFFA’s majority shareholders, Lorenzo Fertitta, step down from his role as CEO of the UFC. UFC lightweight star Joe Lauzon tweeted out a picture of the email that had been sent to them. The very last hurdle, though mostly symbolic, was the overturning of New York State’s 21-year-old ban on mixed marital arts in March.
WME-IMG is a leader in entertainment and sports with more than 800 owned, operated and commercially represented events.
Although the UFC has received occasional criticism from fighters for its pay scale, its ability to control talent costs is a major factor in its profitability.
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Founded in 1993, UFC produces more than 40 live events annually and is the largest pay-per-view event provider in the world, broadcasting in all 50 states and 156 countries to almost 1.1 billion TV households. The company has an agreement with Fox that goes through the end of 2018. The next contract is expected to be extraordinarily lucrative.
