Dana White Shuts Down Idea Of “Crossover” Between UFC & WWE
Dana White doesn’t believe there will be much of a crossover between UFC & WWE stars now that the companies are working together as part of Endeavor.
This past Monday, Endeavor Group Holdings and World Wrestling Entertainment announced a deal that saw Endeavor acquire WWE. Endeavor is the same company that acquired MMA giant the UFC about seven years ago as well.
In their press release announcing the WWE acquisition, Endeavor talked about combining UFC and WWE into one powerful new entity.
“Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to form a new, publicly listed company consisting of two iconic, complementary, global sports and entertainment brands: UFC and WWE. Upon close, Endeavor will hold a 51% controlling interest in the new company and existing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% interest in the new company.”
“The new company will be led by Emanuel (Chief Executive Officer), who will also continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor, Vince McMahon (Executive Chairman of the Board) and Mark Shapiro, who will be President and Chief Operating Officer of both Endeavor and the new company. Dana White will continue in his role as President of UFC and Nick Khan will serve as President of WWE. The Board of Directors will consist of 11 members who will be appointed at a later date, six of whom will be appointed by Endeavor and five of whom by WWE.”
While hardcore UFC fans obviously know who Dana White is, even casual fans of the company likely know White since he has been the UFC President since 2001 and has been a big reason why the UFC has grown so much.
Thanks in part to White’s leadership running the company, UFC was sold to Endeavor in 2016 for just over $4 billion in a deal that has seen UFC grow significantly in terms of market value and popularity since then.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Dana White talked about the positives of the deal while adding there likely won’t be much crossover between the companies.
“I’m sure better deals will be made with the arenas. Alliances will be made. Deals and alliances and sponsorships, the list goes on and on. The business side is really where you’re going to see a big difference. As far as the performance and what we do, you’ll never see a difference in that.”
“There won’t really be any type of crossover. Yeah, Brock Lesnar, who wanted to come over to the UFC and test himself became the heavyweight champion. He’s that good of an athlete. Then, you had Ronda Rousey who was a world champion here and then went over to WWE and tested herself there and became a world champion. That type of synergy will still exist.”
Dana White spoke about the obvious differences between the company while noting that while WWE is a scripted product, UFC is as real as it gets.
“The difference between the UFC and the WWE is, if you look at the WWE, they have an end the entertainment value, and they have these guys that are incredible athletes that go in there and do their thing. It’s well-known that it’s scripted.”
“When you look at the UFC, this is as real as it gets. That’s like our tagline. You have these guys that are incredible athletes, that have to be well-rounded and well-versed in all these different aspects of martial arts. Then you have the entertainment side of it too, but it’s real fighting. It’s real. There are no pre-determined outcomes in the UFC. So there won’t really be any type of crossover.”
Elsewhere, White spoke about he was excited about WWE and UFC working together to build their brands even more.