If You Thought UFC Was Like Pro Wrestling…Just Wait.
UFC and WWE will be one
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I forget the name of the AEW event where he said it, but CM Punk once said ( and I might be paraphrasing here), “There are pro-wrestling fans, and there are WWE fans. They’re not the same thing.” The same can be said when it comes to mixed martial arts and the UFC.
Rumors were already swirling last weekend, then Monday morning, the news was official. Endeavor has acquired the WWE and will be merging them with the UFC.
July 2016
UFC 200 had just taken place, and shortly afterward Endeavor (then known as WME/IMG) acquired the UFC for a little over 4 billion dollars. Then it was one of the largest sports deals to ever take place. On the surface, it looked like MMA’s uphill battle to become a mainstream sport was finally getting what it deserved. But as time passed, something else started happening. If you want to be a fan of the UFC, you’ll need more money.
In 2021, you were looking at about $1,400 dollars a year to be a UFC fan. Since then, prices have only gone up so it’s much more now and that is just to watch the events from your own home. If you wanted to go watch a UFC event live, nosebleed seats for pay-per-view cards will run you around $600 dollars. I wrote about this before when mentioning other options for watching MMA, but in time pro-wrestling fans will feel the pull on their pockets soon.
Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
As much as it seems like the UFC/WWE is the bad guy in this scenario, there’s a bright side. The sport is MMA, and the UFC is just one of the many promotions that feature competitive mixed martial arts at a high level. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, so this deal means more opportunity for the growth of other promotions, fighters, and platforms that want to feature…
