Fight fans shouldn’t expect major changes to the UFC product despite the promotion’s recent merger with WWE.
That, according to UFC president Dana White, who recently spoke to Associated Press for the first time since it was announced Monday that parent company Endeavor purchased WWE, the world’s most prominent professional wrestling company.
The move caused great speculation about whether an uptick in crossover athletes or events will occur going forward. White indicated there will be changes on the backend of the two companies, but his product will generally remain the same.
“I’m sure better deals will be made with the arenas,” White said. “Alliances will be made. Deals and alliances and sponsorships, the list goes on and on. The business side is really where you’re going to see a big difference. As far as the performance and what we do, you’ll never see a difference in that.
“… There won’t really be any type of crossover. Yeah, Brock Lesnar, who wanted to come over to the UFC and test himself became the heavyweight champion. He’s that good of an athlete. Then, you had Ronda Rousey who was a world champion here and then went over to WWE and tested herself there and became a world champion. That type of synergy will still exist.”
With the new business structure, White maintains the same role as he had previously. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel also stays in his role. Vince McMahon and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro will serve as executive chairmen. Current WWE CEO Nick Khan will be the president of the pro wrestling brand.
While White spoke generally on the merger, he predicted the combination of the two brands into a new publicly traded company will increase both brands’ resources, alliances, sponsorships and beyond.
“The thing with this new entity that we’re building, if you look at what we’ve done at the UFC and we continue to do what we do over here, the WWE does what they do and continues to do what they do, and Endeavor and Ari continue to do what they do, it’s just a very powerful company with a ton of great synergy,” White said.
“There are a lot of great things that we can help WWE with to help their business grow. There’s a lot of things. Because when you look at what Endeavor and UFC has done together, we sold for $4.025 billion. Now, the company is worth $12.03 billion. There’s a lot of things that we can add to WWE with the synergies that we’ve created with WME and UFC.”
