The UFC and WWE may now share a home under the TKO banner, but things weren’t always smooth between the two combat sports giants. Following their merger under the WME group, which brought them together as a single entity listed on the New York Stock Exchange, UFC President Dana White opened up about their rocky history.
In an interview with ‘Sports Business Journal’, White was asked what his experience has been like working closely with the WWE and being part of a listed company. The UFC President claimed that while he was not that keen about going into a public company as that didn’t seem like a fun idea to him, it has been a surprisingly great experience.
“I do what I do, they do what they do at the WWE, and Ari does his thing. We have a good working relationship between us and the WWE, which we did not have before TKO.”
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The UFC was acquired by the WME-IMG group in 2016 for a whopping $4 billion. Seven years later, the group acquired the WWE for a whopping $9.3 billion and then merged the two promotions to create a live combat sports behemoth valued at over $20 billion.
Since the merger, superstars from both companies have been seen at each other’s respective events.
UFC-WWE crossovers
A few days ago, UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira made a quickstep at WWE’s Smackdown, where he met with former WWE’s ‘Original Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns. Reigns acknowledged the UFC pound-for-pound #2 and told Poatan that they were eagerly looking forward to what the two-division champ does in his future.
“I appreciate your body of work. Hell of a run so far and we’re excited for what you’re gonna do in the future.”
Pereira watched Smackdown sitting at ringside with family and friends and later posed for pictures with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and Reigns.
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Before Poatan made a stop at the sister company, UFC lightweight Michael Chandler found himself on an episode of Monday Night RAW and used the platform to again call out Conor McGregor. WWE superstars like Rey Mysterio have also been seen at UFC marquee events like UFC: Noche at The Sphere.
It looks like the TKO era is truly bringing the companies together and merging combat sports and sports entertainment in ways previously unimaginable.
