September 13, 2023 12:40 am ET
LAS VEGAS – Dana White couldn’t downplay his excitement Tuesday just hours after the WWE-UFC merger into TKO Group Holdings became official.
White was on hand at a TKO presentation and to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, alongside WWE CEO Vince MacMahon, parent company Endeavor CEO Ari Emmanuel and others. White called it “one of the biggest mergers in the history of sports.”
“We’ve been kicking ass for however many years now. The WWE is doing well,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters following Dana White’s Contender Series 62 at the UFC Apex. “I say this to you guys every year. This just takes the whole sport and everything to a whole different level. I flew out to that thing last night and did it this morning. It was actually really, really cool. It was cool to be a part of.
“I’m excited about the future and what we’re going to do. And I always am, regardless, but after this merger, we’re just so much more powerful than we were yesterday.”
White, whose job title switched from UFC president to CEO as the deal officially went into place, said it’s a lateral move for him in terms of his role and responsibilities. In the bigger picture, however, White sees the merger as a boost needed to take his company and the sport of mixed martial arts to new levels.
“Everything that goes on here I determine. Nothing has changed, just three letters instead of (nine),” White said. “… We’re just going to continue to kick ass like we do every single year. For people that are fighters or media or whoever, this just takes this whole thing to another level. It’s so much bigger and so much more powerful. When you think about all the things that I want to do before my time is up here, today made that a lot easier and a lot more doable.”
As to specifics, White referenced the financial backing the merger will bring to ongoing expansion and construction of UFC Performance Institutes around the world. The promotion already owns and operates PIs in Las Vegas and Shanghai, with another nearing finalization in Mexico City.
“These PIs that we open, they’re not cheap,” White said. “They’re very expensive to run. But I believe truly they are the future of the sport. This is what’s going to make the sport get bigger. Even if you train at a PI as a kid, we go into Africa, we go into Mexico City and other places that I want to do this, you grow up as a kid training in one of these PIs around the world. You might not become a fighter, but you become a trainer. You will have something to do with the sport and touch the sport in some way to help it grow.”
While White remained intentionally cryptic when asked, he hinted that TKO could make a play in the world of boxing, too.
He obliged when given the offer to reveal one further detail.
“I would create (it),” White said with a smile, when asked if he would buy an existing promotion or start from scratch.
Years ago, White frequently teased the creation of Zuffa Boxing, though it never came to fruition. In recent years, White indicated he changed course.
“Every time I try to think about doing something with boxing, I go, ‘Why would I want to do this to myself?’” White said in a 2022 interview on Blockasset’s BLOCK Party. “You know what I mean? Why would I even want to dive into this nightmare? … That’s why I haven’t really done anything. It’s a broken business that is an absolute nightmare to try to fix.”
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