The Official UFC Thread

[gawa316]

Jesus Tait finally gets her belt and then throws it all away against Nunes in the first round.

[DuffleKing]

Whole card was thoroughly underwhelming

[gallsman]

It was dreadful. Aldo-Edgar was decent I guess.

[JimStynes]

That women's fight on Friday was a cracker.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/11/ufc-sale-4bn-dana-white-wme-img?CMP=share_btn_tw

The UFC has been sold for approximately $4bn to a group led by Hollywood talent agency WME-IMG. The UFC president Dana White confirmed the sale of the mixed martial arts company to The Associated Press on Sunday night.

WME co-CEO Ari Emanuel also announced the sale early Monday in an internal company email that included SNTV — a joint venture between AP and IMG.

"We've been honored to have UFC and a number of its athletes as clients and couldn't be happier to take our relationship to this next level as the organization's owner and operating partner," Emanuel said.

White will stay on to run the UFC, which has grown into a global entertainment brand. UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have left the company after nearly 16 years, although they'll retain a minority interest. The Abu Dhabi government still owns 10% of the UFC as well.

The New York Times first reported the completion of the long-rumored deal. It has financial backing from private equity firms Silver Lake Partners, which owns WME-IMG, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, along with the investment firm of billionaire Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers.

[Tony Baloney]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/11/ufc-sale-4bn-dana-white-wme-img?CMP=share_btn_tw

The UFC has been sold for approximately $4bn to a group led by Hollywood talent agency WME-IMG. The UFC president Dana White confirmed the sale of the mixed martial arts company to The Associated Press on Sunday night.

WME co-CEO Ari Emanuel also announced the sale early Monday in an internal company email that included SNTV — a joint venture between AP and IMG.

"We've been honored to have UFC and a number of its athletes as clients and couldn't be happier to take our relationship to this next level as the organization's owner and operating partner," Emanuel said.

White will stay on to run the UFC, which has grown into a global entertainment brand. UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have left the company after nearly 16 years, although they'll retain a minority interest. The Abu Dhabi government still owns 10% of the UFC as well.

The New York Times first reported the completion of the long-rumored deal. It has financial backing from private equity firms Silver Lake Partners, which owns WME-IMG, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, along with the investment firm of billionaire Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers.

Decent wee lift for the Fertitti's. $2 million to $4 billion in 16 years.

[The Iceman]

will be interesting to see where they want to go with this. Fertitas custom built that new casion in VEgas for UFC fights - I'd say there is a deal in there to host plenty of events going forward. Some chunk of change....Dana White done alright out of it.... Joe Rogan will likely leave now.  Chael Sonnen could get the nod to replace him or even Dana....

[gallsman]

Rogan has been talking about leaving for a while and it's not before time. He's become a parody of himself.

[JimStynes]

What's the problem with Joe Rogan?

[gallsman]

What's the problem with Joe Rogan?

He's a shite commentator who can't contain himself and resorts to the same exclamations over and over again.

Oh. OHHHH!

He's hurt!

[gallsman]

I nearly forgot. Away from the UFC, he spouts endless pseudo-intellectual gibberish and is a complete shill for the various sponsors on his podcast which, MMA analysis aside, is largely f**king terrible. He rarely, if ever, challenges any of his guest on anything they say. He had Lance Armstrong on last year and they basically spent three hours spinning Armstrong's story about being a victim. The man is a twat.

[gallsman]

Lesnar popped by USADA.

*so shocked*

[nrico2006]

The strabanimal making his bellator debit tonight live on TV

[The Iceman]

He didn't look as good as he has and his opponent wasn't up to much.... He said afterwards he came through a lot to even get to the cage so I wonder if he was injured or what happened him - I follow him online and there was never any mention of any bother in fact he was out at concerts and parties like any 19 year old.
Gallagher is solid on the ground but his standup isn't there yet and he hasn't KO power. He's the same weight as McGregor and McGregor would eat him for breakfast. He has a long way to go and I know I touted him a few years back as a future champ but I haven't seen enough development to merit that anymore. He's a decent fighter. He has big money backing from KHK MMA and a good gym but he isn't another McGregor and I can't see him holding a belt in Bellator

[Gabriel_Hurl]

A farce of a press conference between Diaz and McGregor earlier