The UFC and the WWE have been rivals in combat sports for a very long time. Both promotions led by the McMahons and Dana White respectively have revolutionized their respective industries. However, both companies could not be more different in the way they operate and put on events. While the WWE can control the outcome of its events, the UFC is completely unscripted. This comes with additional stress as Dana White once candidly mentioned to Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
Levesque serves as the Chief Content Officer for the WWE and has been in that role for over a decade now. He recently appeared on the latest episode of the ‘Impaulsive’ podcast hosted by Logan Paul. During the interview, he mentioned a conversation he had with Dana White where he highlighted the difference between the WWE and the UFC. He even talked about how the UFC had recently opened a $13 million performance institute in China and how Dana White had added stress because of it.
“I remember having a conversation with Dana a long time ago, this was at the ESPY’s. They had just done the China performance institute and all that stuff. They just made all this massive investment there. I said ‘Hey congratulations on the China stuff’. He was like, ‘yeah it is an awesome time right now I just have to get the Chinese girl to win on Saturday. If she wins it is awesome, if she does not, I am doomed’. That is the beauty of what we (WWE) do.”
Fortunately for Dana White, his $13 million investment paid off as Weili Zhang won the UFC strawweight belt in August 2019. In the process, she became the first Chinese champion in UFC history.
‘Triple H’ reveals plans of the WWE with UFC after the merger
The UFC was acquired by the Endeavour group in 2016 for $4.25 billion. After a few years of successfully running the promotion, the group decided to acquire the WWE as well. This deal, which was completed in August 2023, is worth a whopping $9.3 billion. Following the acquisition, the WWE and the UFC were merged into one publicly traded entity called ‘TKO Group Holdings.’
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In the interview with Paul, Levesque mentioned that the two organizations are planning on tackling the market together. He revealed that the plan is to appeal to a new fanbase with Raw on a Friday. This will be followed by a UFC event on a Saturday and ultimately another WWE event on Sunday night. However, he did not provide additional information about the location or date of the event.
