As the UFC continues to report record revenues quarter after quarter, executives for TKO Group Holdings – the merged company combining UFC and WWE – aren’t sweating potential competition coming from rival organizations like PFL.

On Tuesday during the corporate parents’ first earnings call, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro addressed the recent $100 million investment from Saudi Arabia into the PFL. The deal was part of continued expansion for SRJ Sports Investments — a new wing of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund — as the group plans to bring more and more major events to the Middle Eastern country.

Not to be outdone by that deal, the UFC recently inked a lucrative new extension to continue bringing one pay-per-view and up to three Fight Night events to Abu Dhabi, also announcing a partnership to bring the first-ever UFC event to Saudi Arabia in March 2024.

“Competition’s not new for the UFC or the WWE,” Emanuel said during the call. “MMA is probably the fastest growing sport and we’re encouraged by the interest. Rising tides lift all boats, in my opinion. We don’t see it as a zero sum game. Not only do we have competition with other MMA or wrestling organizations — football, college football, there’s a lot of competition out there.

“At the UFC, we have a strong and stable fighter [roster], over 600 total. I think the UFC is where fighters want to come and want to be and as I said in my prepared remarks, we feel good about the future of our relationship with Saudi [Arabia]. As one example, we recently announced that we would bring UFC Fight Night to Riyadh in March 2024, a clear indication that Saudi is very high [on UFC] and has intentions to grow this relationship with UFC. That’s kind of our feeling about it.”

Shapiro added the company never saw any issue with PFL asecuring a broadcast deal to air events on ESPN, which also serves as the broadcast partner to the UFC.

The same goes for the investment from Saudi Arabia, because ultimately Shapiro knows that the UFC remains the top destination for the best fighters in the world – and that’s not going to change.

“The investment that SRJ made in PFL, we look to our advantage,” Shapiro said. “We have no issue with Bellator, PFL, name your league. Competition is good.

“Not only do we have over 600 fighters, we have the premiere fighters. Ultimately you’re trying to get to the UFC, which is akin to the XFL trying to ultimately get their players into the NFL. That’s what we are. Those are pipeline and feeder properties. In fact, we’re supportive of [PFL] being on ESPN. PFL’s been on ESPN. We were totally supportive of that deal and the Saudi experience should prove out well for us.”

As far as the PFL potentially cutting into the UFC’s business, Shapiro didn’t seem overly concerned while addressing the upstart promotion that was forged out of the pieces of World Series of Fighting in 2017.

“When it first came out [that Saudi Arabia was investing in PFL] it was a lot of what’s going on?” Shapiro said. “They’re coming after us. They’re going to take fighters. They’re going to increase fighter pay. UFC’s in trouble. Quickly on the heels of that, we announce our deal [with Saudi Arabia].

“Good for them. Saudi Arabia is being very aggressive in bringing events to the Kingdom. They’re in discussions for the WTA finals in tennis, they’re looking obviously at motor sports. There’s rumors about a potential investment in F1. All kinds of stuff that are out there right now.”

The aggressive investments from Saudi Arabia in various sports properties will likely only increase in the coming years, and that almost certainly includes more combat sports.

“All we know is they want more MMA, which is great for us,” Shapiro said. “The more they have, the more it’s really going to just serve as an appetizer to what will be the meal, which is UFC.”

Author: Staff

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