The combat sports world was given a jolt Tuesday evening when ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported UFC ownership is “in advanced talks to sell the business.”
UFC president Dana White went on The Dan Patrick show Wednesday to clarify things. White denied that Zuffa LLC, the UFC’s parent company, is looking to sell the entire company.
“We’re not up for sale,” White said. “We’re always working on deals and our expansion globally. I’ve been saying since this thing came out, no, we’re not for sale, but let me tell you what. If somebody shows up with $4 billion, we can talk. We can definitely talk.”
White described the ESPN report as “overblown” but when asked about a potential partial sale of the company, he avoided going into details.
“Obviously, if I’m in the middle of a deal right now, there’s a lot of confidentiality involved in it but we’re working on expanding,” White said. “We’re working on growing the company and moving into other territories like China and Japan, Korea. So, yeah, we’re always working on deals.”
“As far as the UFC being for sale, I’ve said this a million times, we get offers on the UFC all the time,” White added. “It started in 2010. We got our first offer for the company, which was over $1 billion and we turned it down.”
Zuffa purchased the UFC in 2001 for $2 million. Its current valuation, according to Rovell, is between $3.5 billion and $4 billion.
According to FloCombat, the UFC could be looking to sell a smaller share of the company — somewhere in the 11 to 15 per cent range.
If the UFC were to sell a minority interest in the company, it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done it. Zuffa sold 10 per cent of the company to Abu Dhabi government-owned Flash Entertainment in 2010. Currently, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta own 81 per cent of Zuffa (40.5 per cent each), while White holds a nine per cent share in the company. Prior to the Flash Entertainment deal, the Fertitta brothers each had a 45 per cent stake and White was at 10 per cent.
FloCombat reports selling a smaller percentage of the company “would allow CEO Lorenzo Fertitta to take a reduced role with the UFC and focus on his family’s Station Casino business in Las Vegas while also aiding the UFC’s efforts in global expansion, especially into the lucrative yet difficult Chinese market.”
Dalian Wanda Group, China’s largest commercial property company and the world’s largest cinema chain operator, is believed to be the frontrunner in UFC negotiations.
White added that if Zuffa does one day relinquish control of the UFC he’s unsure how his role as president would be impacted.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how that would all work out, but I’ll tell you this: the day we decide to sell, I probably don’t want to do this anymore,” White said. “I love this. I love this business. I love the sport. I jump out of bed everyday excited to go to work. And listen, me and Fertitta brothers have been together a long time. We’re very close friends. We work well together. Something we did would be a mutual decision and we’d probably all be looking to get out.”
