MMA News Discussion Thread

[Duckman]

Yep, my money is going on Hunt and Diaz for sure.

Brock is 39 soon, hasn't fought since 2011 and we just don't know how much has been taken out of him physically with his illness - he didn't fight anything like the monster he was after his illness.  Plus Hunt is a KO artist and has very under rated takedown defence.  This is not an easy fight for Brock by any means.  Plenty of risk here.

It's a really interesting time in UFC, especially with the proposed sale going on in the background.

Looks like they needed something to push UFC200 into the million buys territory and without Ronda or Conor, Brock coming back is a good bet to do that.

I'm so surprised WWE let him do this, if he gets KOed (which is likely) he could be out of Summerslam which is less than a month after UFC200.

The rumours are that in return WWE might get Paige Van Zant for Summerslam and possibly Ronda for WM next year.

As for UFC/Ariel thing - they were totally wrong there.  You can't ban a journalist simply for doing his job and especially in the way they did it.  They got butt hurt the guy broke stories they wanted to break and banned him for it.  If you want to be a legitimate sport, you need to allow the media to report, question, challenge and sometimes break stories you don't want them to.  You can't have all the coverage, all the hype from the media and then throw the toys out the pram when they do something you don't like.  That's the crap Vince used to pull back in the day and it doesn't fly these days.

Looked to me like UFC bullying MMA Fighting and Ariel and trying to supress the media from writing news stories that they wanted to break.  If they wanted to break the stories, they shouldn't have have put Brock back on the active fighter list on Friday, or work harder on keeping their own house in order so people aren't giving Ariel and others these insider stories.  You can't blame the media here - UFC were well out of order and looked like total morons because of it.

Still, Bisping won (YAY!), Cruz v Fabre was a good fight and Hendo's KO was brutally awesome and the perfect send off for his career - that crowd pop he got was insane!  UFC199 was a damn fun show from top to bottom.

Looking forward to UFC200 even more now with added Brock!

[Cory]

Heard that about Van Zant too.....she's incredibly cute but surely dancing with the stars hasn't raised her value THAT much, I mean she's an average female fighter and has decided to put the cart before the horse here with her MMA career.

[Duckman]

I think it did, that show drew 18 million viewers, most of them female, and WWE's female fan demographic has been dropping like a stone in recent years.  So if she can even bring a small percentage of those viewers to WWE, she'll be worth it to them.

That said, I doubt anyone is buying a Network sub to see her at Summerslam.  But they might watch her on RAW in the lead up to it, if WWE can get her for a few shows.

Now if they could get Conor on WM32 - that would be a real coup and bring so many more eye balls to the product.  Plus Conor would flourish there on the mic.

[Cory]

and I wouldn't be surprised if they got some video rights in this deal....maybe footage of Lesnar's previous fights or more likely footage from the Hunt fight so if he wins they can make a montage/highlight for SS with more than still images from google.

[Jon]

I would love to see Conor have a WM spot, he would absolutely flourish.

Maybe he's there to count the 1...2...3 making Balor the champ? (Most likely unrealistic, but maybe at a WM down the line).

Van Zant is really meh to me.

Rousey has appeal though.

Surprised Chael Sonnen never ventured into professional wrestling... and I think Bisping could have a future doing something with the company as well.

[Cory]

I would love to see Conor have a WM spot, he would absolutely flourish.

Maybe he's there to count the 1...2...3 making Balor the champ? (Most likely unrealistic, but maybe at a WM down the line).

Van Zant is really meh to me.

Rousey has appeal though.

Surprised Chael Sonnen never ventured into professional wrestling... and I think Bisping could have a future doing something with the company as well.

I believe Chael is a promoter currently for some like, underground submission league...he was going on about it on Ariel Helwani's show a few weeks ago. But agree, Sonnen is a realistic fit for a WWE run;

[Cory]

On the MMAHour, sounds like Fedor will be signing with the UFC soon....man I dont care that he's over the hill, Fedor is still Fedor. Him v/s the winner of Brock/Hunt would be amazing.

[Duckman]

Looks like the sale of the UFC is nearing it's final stages.  Here's a quote from a MMAFighting.com article by Dave Meltzer today:

The UFC has received two bids in the range of $4.1 billion and a sale is close, according to an ESPN.com report Thursday. The two high bidders, per ESPN sports business inside Darren Rovell, are WME-IMG (in conjunction with Dalian Wanda Group) and China Media Capital.

The bids are somewhere between $3.9 and $4.2 billion, sources said.

The sale would be for the entire company. Currently, both groups are trying to completely finance the buyout, the report said. The results of that could determine which bidder ends up buying the UFC.

ESPN reported that one of the potential investors for WME-IMG is the Kraft Group, which owns the New England Patriots. A Kraft spokesman declined comment to ESPN. Robert Kraft is a friend of UFC president Dana White; White, a former Boston resident, has been spotted numerous times on the sidelines at Patriots games.

China Media Capital has a group of a number of investors from Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In 2015, UFC took in $608,629,000 in total revenue and had a profit of $157,806,000, sources said.

The UFC is owned primarily by casino billionaires Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. White and Flash Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi government, also own a percentage.

Both bidders are interested in keeping White on board, sources said.

Whoever takes over, I get the feeling a lot is going to change.  Could be a very interesting time.

Just to make you feel a little bit sick - if the sale goes through for $4 billion, Dana White with his stake in the company would pocket around $380 million in cash!!  If I were him I'd take that cash, then stick around for another year or two before passing the promoting reigns to someone else.

What do you guys think about the potential sale and any knock on effect it may have on MMA in general.

[Cory]

I think I saw a report that Dana will stay on for the foreseeable future even if the sale goes through and I think for him, cash out and still get to do what you love as he's a big marketing tool now that the new owners could use. If the UFC sold and there was no more familiar faces promoting the events it could hurt the product.

Joe Rogan said if they sell he won't come back which kinda sucks as I dislike pretty much everyone else on commentary. Stann lacks enthusiasm, Florian can't not come off like a nerd. DC is my favourite and unless he does something like Randy Couture did back in the day, I think bad commentary could hurt the product as well...and I don't think I've heard anyone say wow Jon Anik and KFlo were great on commentary last night.

China is taking over if they win the bid man, look at football....already paying outrageous money to attract starts to their shitty league, I fear they could do more harm than good if they win the bid.

[Cory]

Ugh, that Fedor fight.


Well, hopefully Rory/Wonderboy lives up to even just half the hype and we'll get an amazing fight.

[Fnord]

Source: Flo Combat

What was once thought unimaginable appears to be a reality.

According to a report from FloCombat's Jeremy Botter, the UFC has accepted a bid of $4.2 billion to be sold to the ownership group of WME-IMG, the Dalian Wanda Group, The Kraft Group and Tencent Holdings, the owners of the largest internet portal in China. The sale hasn't been completed but isn't expected to be announced until after UFC 200 on July 9.

Many bids were submitted but it came down to two groups: the WME-IMG, the Dalian Wanda Group, The Kraft Group and Tencent Holdings team and the other was China Media Capital. FloCombat also reports the CMC's bid was short of what the UFC was looking for in the deal.

The website also reports that in 2015, Fox, which is their TV partner, made an offer to buy the world's largest MMA organization but the bid was denied when the offer came in at half of what the UFC was looking for.

The majority of the money to broker the deal is being put up by DWG and Tencent Holdings. WMG-IMG and The Kraft Group though would act as the faces of the group, particularly in North America.

Questions have surfaced on whether Dana White would remain in the UFC. FloCombat states that White will stay with the UFC. White owns slightly less than nine percent of the company and his shares will be sold as part of the sale, but he will be getting new shares to stay on as UFC President.

[Ty]

Source: mmajunkie


MMAjunkie
UFC exec says reports of UFC sale are 'false,' internal email to staff offers same message
By: John Morgan   | June 21, 2016 12:00 am

Dave Sholler
Dave Sholler

The world's largest MMA promotion may eventually change hands at some point, but UFC officials insist that no such transaction has taken place at this time.

FloCombat.com today reported that UFC officials had accepted a bid of $4.2 billion from "a group consisting of WME-IMG, the Dalian Wanda Group, The Kraft Group and Tencent Holdings." However, UFC Vice President of Public Relations Dave Sholler said those reports are untrue.

"FloCombat.com's report indicating that the UFC has been sold is false," Sholler told MMAjunkie. "We've communicated that to our staff members tonight via an internal memo."

MMAjunkie obtained the email sent to all UFC employees denying the legitimacy of the FloCombat.com report and signed by UFC co-owner and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta.

"A report today by FloCombat.com indicating that the company has been sold is false," the email read. "This follows other false speculation in the press recently.

"Such misrepresentation of facts in the media negatively impacts our business, staff members and athletes. We have instructed our attorneys to investigate and take all appropriate legal actions against the parties publishing and contributing to these false stories.

"With International Fight Week and the historic UFC 200 rapidly approaching, we look forward to once again delivering a series of events that our fans won's soon forget. We appreciate your hard work, diligence and commitment, and thank you for your focus as we continue to take the sport to new heights."

FloCombat.com's report indicated that as part of the deal, UFC President Dana White would remain in place, while Fertitta would depart the promotion after the transaction was complete.

White wasn't immediately available for comment.

[Duckman]

I think they're going to go out with UFC 200 as the final show of the Fertitta era.

I always take their responses to press stories with a pinch of salt.  When the sale story original broke they denied it, until they could get their own spin on it.  Doesn't mean this particular sale story is true, plus it's kind of quick to do all the due diligence on the deal if final bids were submitted on Friday.

But sale is happening, just a matter of when.

[Jon]

Sounds like GSP could be making a return very soon.

[Cory]

Sounds like GSP could be making a return very soon.

and sounds like he wants Bisping....that's not a good matchup for the champ at all.