MMA Thread (UFC/Bellator et al)

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

For his non-title title bout against Anderson Silva that was quickly booked just two days before the contest, DC will earn $500,000.

Silva on the other hand, will earn more than the champion for stepping in on short notice, and has a disclosed payday of $600,000.

Lesnar's opponent in Mark Hunt will earn $700,000. Headliners Tate and Nunes will earn $500,000 and $100,000 respectively. The featherweight title fight will have Jose Aldo earn $400,000, while Frankie Edgar is at $190,000.

Heavyweights Travis Browne and Cain Velasquez will make $120,000 and $300,00, respectively.

Brock Lesnar will pull in a cool $2.5 million

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Brock time!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Mr Canada.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

A nice win for Brock.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Katy Perry's "Roar" is a very UFC tune.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Tate got a bit of a smashing.

[Bandit]

Tate got a bit of a smashing.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

A lesbian pounded hard on Miesha's face.

[Bandit]

It really did look like an Orange is the New Black episode.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Pennsatucky cops another beating.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- According to both CBS 8 and TMZ Sports, the UFC has officially been sold for $4 billion.

The reports making the rounds claims that the papers for the sale were officially signed on Saturday, the actual same day the historic UFC 200 event took place. The official announcement regarding the sale is expected to be made publicly as soon as Monday.

Both reports also indicate that longtime UFC President Dana White will stay on with the new owners as the president for the UFC, and that surprisingly enough, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta will maintain a small ownership stake in the company.

[Big Boss Man]

Some more details from the NY Times

U.F.C. Sells Itself for $4 Billion

By MICHAEL J. de la MERCEDJULY 11, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO — Ultimate Fighting Championship seemed for years to be a curio, a niche sport for those interested in seeing combatants pummel one another in an octagonal cage.

But U.F.C. has become a global sports empire — and now commands an eye-popping price tag.

The league, which promotes mixed martial arts, is expected to announce as soon as Monday that it has sold itself to a group led by the talent giant WME-IMG for about $4 billion, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Backing the deal are the private equity heavyweights Silver Lake, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and the investment firm of the billionaire Michael S. Dell.

The deal highlights the power and reach of the 23-year-old U.F.C., whose fights are now shown in more than 156 countries and take place in all 50 states, and which claims millennials as some 45 percent of its audience.

For its new owners, the league represents a prime source of content, particularly in the digital arena. Beyond its headline fights, which the company asserts are the best-selling events on pay-per-view TV, U.F.C. over all generates roughly 2,000 hours’ worth of material each year, much of it available on its Fight Pass streaming service.

The transaction comes just as U.F.C. concluded its latest series of fights, perhaps the biggest in the organization’s history. (The event, U.F.C. 200, drew more than 18,000 fans to Las Vegas but was marred by some controversy, including the absence of stars like Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, the last of whom was removed after testing positive for an undisclosed substance.

It will be a windfall for U.F.C.’s primary owners, the longtime casino entrepreneurs Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, though they will stay on as minority investors.

The brothers bought U.F.C. in 2000 for just $2 million at a low point for the league, after the promoter spent years and millions of dollars battling to win approval from state athletic commissions.
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Before the arrival of the Fertittas, U.F.C. had begun climbing in popularity, thanks to early stars like Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock and a reputation for being just shy of civilized. But opposition loomed from Senator John McCain of Arizona, who derided the sport as “human cockfighting,” and former Governor George E. Pataki of New York, who banned the sport from the state.

The early years under the brothers — who run the business through a company called Zuffa, the Italian word for “fight” — were still tough, with million-dollar losses weighing over the enterprise.

But the Fertittas took the brand to a new level, with more advertising, more effective social media marketing and better distribution through partnerships like the one with Fox. Licensing money for video games, clothes and more began to roll in. U.F.C.’s revenue was about $600 million last year.

Respectability came along with rules meant to curb the excesses of early fights and getting approval from each state’s athletic commission. The last came this year, when New York lifted its ban on the sport.

And cross-promotional television programming like “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show elevated U.F.C.’s presence in pop culture, turning athletes like Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture into mainstream stars. Combatants began appearing on ESPN and in the pages of Sports Illustrated.

Successive generations of fighters, particularly Ms. Rousey, became even bigger celebrities.

U.F.C. has demonstrated enormous digital reach as well, particularly after the introduction of U.F.C. Fight Pass streaming service in late 2013.

Under the Fertittas, U.F.C. also swallowed up many of its competitors while pushing aggressively abroad, establishing beachheads in Europe, Asia and Australia. As part of that international campaign, Zuffa sold a minority stake in the promoter to an arm of the Abu Dhabi government six years ago.

Not all has been rosy for U.F.C., however. The league has faced accusations that it underpays many of its athletes. And it remains dogged by concerns about the brutality of some of its fights.

Along the way, the Fertittas, burly fighting enthusiasts who are bound to settle business disputes with a jujitsu match, have already earned themselves a fortune and amassed high-priced art collections.

Rumors about a sale of U.F.C. in a multibillion-dollar deal have percolated since the spring. In May, the company flatly denied being up for sale.

Its president, Dana White, said, “We’re not for sale,” though he conceded, “But let me tell you what. If somebody shows up with $4 billion, we can talk.”

As recently as last week, Lorenzo Fertitta and Mr. White denied that they had sold the business. “We own the U.F.C. We did not sell the U.F.C.,” Mr. White told The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. (That’s true: The two sides signed the deal agreement over the weekend.)

Such is the popularity of the company that it drew interest from a number of suitors, including big Chinese media players that reportedly included the Dalian Wanda Group, which owns the AMC theater chain, and China Media Capital, which owns stakes in pro sports teams like the Manchester City soccer club.

But it was WME-IMG, which already represents stars like Ms. Rousey in media rights and has represented U.F.C. itself, that emerged victorious. For the Hollywood colossus, which is led by Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, acquiring U.F.C. is the latest step in creating a huge stable meant to command digital media.

The agency has gained financial firepower for such deals, taking investments this year from the Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank and the mutual fund titan Fidelity.

WME-IMG has already taken steps into the sports world, buying the Professional Bull Riders league last year. Still, U.F.C. is a much bigger step in the agency’s goal to become a platform for content, to which it can apply a host of levers — from marketing to talent management to television and digital distribution.

Though WME-IMG represents Ms. Rousey and other combatants in their endorsements and movie deals, the agency will not get involved in the actual pay negotiations with athletes, according to the people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Backing the agency are Silver Lake, which led the merger of WME and IMG nearly three years ago and which has long pushed portfolio companies to become bigger through acquisitions, and K.K.R., which has often worked with Silver Lake on major investments like the takeovers of GoDaddy and the chip maker Avago.

Both firms will own minority stakes in U.F.C.

Mr. Dell has been allied with Silver Lake since the investment firm helped him take his computer empire private in 2013, and then aided him in buying the data storage company EMC last year in what was the biggest-ever takeover in technology. Mr. Dell’s firm, MSD Capital, will own preferred shares in the sports league, which will essentially pay out interest.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/busin ... .html?_r=0

Huge news, seems that WME-IMG will use the higher profile fighters like Ronda, Conor et al for outside media presences ie movies, TV roles etc. Dana's being kept on but I wonder whether this changes anything in the whole scheme of things where the focus might shift from the sport into it being more about being a multimedia organization with the emphasis more on the fighters themselves than the fights.

[Bandit]

Ari Emanuel is who Ari Gold of Entourage is based on. So I can't imagine he and Dana will get along. This will be interesting since Dana has been called the Ari Gold of sports for 10 years.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- According to Rashad Evans, Jon Jones tested positive for estrogen blockers when he failed a June drug test which resulted in Jones being pulled from his scheduled UFC 200 main event fight. Jones had his “B” sample sent to a test site in Salt Lake City, but that also came back positive, and now he faces a likely suspension from the USADA that could last up to two years.

[Bandit]

Fox Sports reports Dana White may speak at the Republican Convention. Censors get ready. I'd rather see Vince do it, though.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Brock Lesnar on potential doping violation: "We will get to the bottom of this"

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Brock Lesnar of a potential doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test administered June 28.

Lesnar, 39, returned to the Octagon for the first time since December 2011 to defeat Mark Hunt via decision. The pro wrestling star remains under contract with WWE and declined to say whether he would fight in a UFC match again.

Lesnar told The Associated Press in a statement, "we will get to the bottom of this."

The UFC announced Lesnar's potential violation on Friday. In a statement, the UFC said it was not informed of the potential violation until Thursday which explains why Lesnar was able to compete at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas.

"The UFC organization was notified today that [USADA] has informed Brock Lesnar of a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on June 28," the statement said. "USADA received the testing results from the June 28 sample collection from the [World Anti-Doping Agency]-accredited UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory on the evening of July 14."

Under the UFC's anti-doping program, which is administered by USADA and went into effect in July 2015, results management and adjudication of the case falls to USADA, as well as the Nevada State Athletic Commission, due to the fact Lesnar's fight took place in Las Vegas.

The NSAC is already involved in another case regarding UFC 200. Former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was removed from UFC 200 three days prior to the event due to a potential violation, is also facing discipline from the NSAC.

Lesnar (6-3) announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2015, but ultimately decided to return to the UFC for a "one-off," to which WWE agreed.

Lesnar has not before tested positive for banned substances in his UFC career. It is also unknown at this time what the potential doping violation is for a banned substance or a banned methodology.

The AP also obtained copies of three letters from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to Lesnar, informing the fighter that he had passed tests on three samples submitted over a nine-day period in mid-June, mere days before the sample with the potential violation was collected.

It is standard procedure for USADA to not immediately divulge the cause of the potential doping violation.

Under the UFC's program, any retired athlete who wishes to return to competition must first be subjected to a four-month testing window.

The UFC is able to grant exemptions to that requirement, however. Due to the unique circumstances of Lesnar's return and his contract situation with the WWE, the UFC decided to waive that four-month window for the first time.

Despite receiving an exemption for the four-month requirement, Lesnar did submit eight tests to USADA, according to the agency's website.

Hunt, 42, referenced that exemption numerous times leading up to the fight. In an interview with MMA Fighting on Friday, Hunt said he has asked UFC officials for half of Lesnar's $2.5 million guaranteed purse or to be released from his contract effective immediately.

"The cheaters get a slap on the wrist and walk off," Hunt told MMA Fighting. "What penalty or deterrent is there to make them think twice? Nothing. And the [Nevada Athletic Commission], why should these [expletive] get anything? They are not the ones who had to fight with Lesnar or lose [to him]. I lost."

Hunt told MMA Fighting that he has yet to hear from UFC.

When asked about the topic of performance-enhancing drugs during a pre-fight international conference call, Lesnar responded, "I'm a white boy and I'm jacked. Deal with it."

Source: ESPN

He might have drank a cup of Roman's piss.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- According to F4WOnline.com, The Nevada State Athletic Commission could fine Brock Lesnar anywhere from $1.25 million to $1.875 million if he did indeed violate USADA’s anti-doping policy.

If Lesnar is fined, the amount of money could vary depending on the substance for which he tested positive. According to NSAC guidelines, athletes may be fined 50 to 75 percent of their purse if they fail a drug test for anabolic steroids, and the fine could be lower if the NSAC believes Lesnar inadvertently took a tainted supplement.

Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that the NSAC might also attempt to claim some of the money Lesnar is owed in PPV sales, as his guaranteed pay for the fight was $2.5 million, plus a cut of PPV revenue. As noted, Lesnar’s total UFC 200 payout is estimated at around $6 million.

A NSAC hearing regarding Lesnar’s possible USADA violation is expected to take place within a couple weeks, and aside from fines, Lesnar could be suspended from MMA for two years if he tested positive for PED use. Similarly to the fine situation, Lesnar might receive a shorter suspension if it’s found his doping violation was inadvertent. In either case, however, if it proves to be true that Lesnar did in fact violate USADA’s policy, his win against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 will either be overturned or deemed a “no contest.”

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]