Owners sell UFC for $4 billion to MME ǀ IMG

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) owners just sold the promotions company for US$4 billion (A$5.27 billion). But despite having new owners, current UFC President Dana White would keep his job, while majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta keep a small stake.

The buyer is WME-IMG, a talent agency in Beverly Hills owned by Ariel Emmanuel, reports LA Times. Besides William Morris Endeavor (WME), an international known talent agency, the group includes International Management Group (IMG), a global sports and entertainment firm based in New York, and MSD, a private equity group led by Michael Dell, according to Mashable.

In the past, WME ǀ IMG had represented UFC and some of its athletes, disclose Emmanuel and Patrick Whitesell, co-CEOs of WME ǀ IMG. The new owners promised to pursue new opportunities for UFC and its athletes to ensure mixed martial arts would continue to grow and succeed on a global scale.

News of the sale, denied the past few weeks, was made on Sunday during the last UFC 200 fight event that featured Brock Lesnar and Jose Aldo. Even though they did not participate in the event, also present were UFC stars Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor.

According to LA Times, White and Lorenzo Fertitta were New England high school friends who reconnected in 1995 at a friend’s wedding. They revived the friendship, along with Frank Fertitta, during jujitsu trainings. On White’s advice, the brothers purchased UFC, a mixed martial arts company based in Las Vegas, for $2 million in January 2001.

At the time of the sale, White and the Fertittas had built a global MMA empire which broadcasts in 156 countries and territories and a US$600 million (A$790 million) revenue in 2015. White, who believes that no other sport compares to UFC, says he looks forward to working with the WME ǀ IMG to continue to bring the sport to the next level by giving fans the biggest and best fights and making it the biggest sport in the world.

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