The WWE and UFC will officially merge this year under the company that already owns the rights to the UFC, the Endeavor Group. This move will bolster the WWE as they embark on negotiations for new media rights deals this year. Endeavor is a publicly traded company that is controlled by Ari Emanuel. All sides hope to have the merger complete in the second half of the year. UFC is set to negotiate a new media deal in the year 2025. While they have several things to work out, the new evaluation for the merger between the two is now over 21 billion dollars.
Today, @Endeavor announced it has signed an agreement to form a $21+ billion global live sports and entertainment company made up of @UFC and @WWE. https://t.co/lPrkBmKJXm pic.twitter.com/ZBk95c5exU
— Endeavor (@Endeavor) April 3, 2023
With this new merger between the WWE and UFC, there will be some restructuring. Ari Emmanuel will serve as the CEO while Vince McMahon will serve as the executivee chair. Dana White will continue in his role as the president of UFC while now former WWE CEO Nick Khan will serve as the president of the WWE. This will change the landscape of combat sports and will surely make the upcoming media negations far more lucrative for all those involved.
This announcement came the day after WWE completed their biggest show of the year with the two night event of WrestleMania. FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the following about future media rights plans: “From a rights point of view, we’re focused on their rights renewal. We’re ready, we haven’t engaged with them on the rights yet. We’re ready to engage with them when they’re ready. But ultimately, our appetite for renewal depends on what happens with the rest of our sports portfolio.
