The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) have recently completed a merger, operating under a new company called TKO Holdings. UFC parent company Endeavor will hold 51% of shares in the new organization, while WWE stakeholders will have 49%. Both promotions will continue to function independently. However, UFC senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein has a goal of merging the two vastly different fan bases at some point.
Merging Fan Bases
Epstein told ESPN, “Where we want to get is where every UFC fan is a WWE fan and every WWE fan is a UFC fan.” He believes that by combining the fans of the two promotions, they can create a stronger and more united fan base.
However, UFC president Dana White couldn’t disagree more with Epstein’s statement, labeling it as one of the “dumbest of all time.” White, who was made UFC chief executive officer (CEO) with the merger, noted that the fan bases of pro wrestling and unscripted cage fighting are fundamentally different.
White’s Disagreement
During a media session following Dana White’s Contender Series, White said, “Lawrence, I love you. One of the dumbest statements of all time. I don’t know why he said that. I don’t even know what to say to that. No. There is some crossover, some people like WWE, some people like UFC, and some people like both. I don’t think there’s ever going to be a day where we turn every UFC fan into a WWE fan, or every WWE fan into a UFC fan. What’s beautiful about the synergy between these two fan bases is they are very completely opposite… Maybe he was misquoted, I hope that was the case because I couldn’t disagree with him more.”
Despite the disagreement about merging fan bases, the merger between UFC and WWE under TKO Holdings is set to create new opportunities and synergies for both promotions. Only time will tell if the fans of these two very different sports can indeed come together and find common ground.