The UFC is now one of the most profitable sports entities on the planet but that wasnât the case in the early 2000s when the promotion was bleeding money, most states banned MMA and television networks wanted nothing to do with the sport.
The former owners at Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG) were desperately trying to find a buyer and thatâs when Shane McMahon â son of WWE founder Vince McMahon â was approached about taking over UFC.
âAt the time, the UFC, they got in some financial problems and came to us and said âwould you like to purchase the UFC?ââ Shane revealed in the new Netflix documentary series Mr. McMahon. âI go this is cool.
âI said âDad, letâs just go for this one.â I thought we could really grow that brand because itâs tailor made for what we do. We have a production team, we have a live events team, we had a merchandising team, we have all of it just ready to go. So to me it was plug and play.â
Groomed as a potential successor to his father in the professional wrestling business, Shane reportedly saw the UFC as his chance to prove he had the acumen to take over an organization and turn it into a financial success. That could then set the stage for him to run WWE when his father was ready to step down.
But when Shane approached Vince with the idea to buy the UFC, the elder McMahon had no interest.
âWhen it was presented in terms of buying UFC, I didnât like that business model,â Vince explained. âBecause our business model, you can create characters much like Disney or someone else and we can use them forever.
âAs opposed to a boxer/UFC [fighter], once youâre beat, once youâre hurt or something, your careerâs over. Weâre in show business. Thatâs a sport.â
While WWE and UFC share a lot of similar DNA in terms of athletes and personalities helping to drive interest, professional wrestling is scripted drama while MMA is real fighting.
That was all Vince needed to justify his decision to pass on buying UFC and just sticking to his day-to-day business running WWE.
âSo anyway, he thought about it and passed,â Shane said about his fatherâs decision. âPassed on the opportunity and that was that.â
Zuffa â a company started by brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta along with longtime friend Dana White â ended up purchasing the UFC for $2 million in 2001. While the company struggled financially for several years, UFC eventually turned things around and the Fertittaâs sold the business to Endeavor for just over $4 billion in 2016.
â10 years later or something, UFC was sold for a lot of money and I think Shane wants to take credit for the idea of buying UFC,â Vince said. âShane really thought thatâs the way to go.
âSo Shane, you take your money and put it in, which didnât work. It wouldnât work. Because it would take a huge investment and Shane only had a little bit [of money] so thatâs not a good investment.â
Obviously, Shane always saw the potential in the UFC and the $4 billion sale along with the continued growth over the past few years proved the gamble would have paid off.
âHindsightâs always 20/20,â Shane said. âI think it would have been an excellent investment.â
Funny enough, Endeavor ended up taking over WWE as well and then merged the organization with UFC under the current company name TKO Group Holdings. The new combined company was valued at over $21 billion at the time of the merger.
As for Vince, he eventually resigned from his post as TKO Group Holdings executive chairman after an inflammatory lawsuit was filed against him by an ex-employee accusing the mogul of sexual assault among other allegations. McMahon has since sold off a huge part of his stock in TKO Group Holdings, although he still remains a sizable shareholder in the company.
It might have still failed with them. The finale to the Ultimate Fighter is what saved the brand. If the fight had been a boring lay and pray decision then the UFC probably would have died long ago.
Nobody came out looking âgoodâ in the McMahon documentary, but Shane at least looked sympathetic. Poor dude just wanted his old manâs approval, but Vince is a monster, so that didnât work for him, brother.
click the link for the full video
McMahon on why he passed on buying UFC:
I had other shit to do.
Thankfully, the McMahons didnât buy it as Iâm fairly certain that theyâd have fucked with the integrity of the sport & influenced who won & lost much of the time. Besides, Vinceâs side projects always failed.
I have other shit to do, like shit on a womanâs chestâŚ
The whole season did well, thanks in part to having WWE as a lead in. It most likely would have been picked up regardless. All UFC ever really needed was exposure and it was going to blow up like it did.
It would have been so much better. Truly.