The UFC may be on the verge of being sold to Chinese investors for $4 billion according to overnight reports in America.
Zuffa, the company the owns the UFC bought the company for only $2 million in 2001. Despite being seen as the face of the company, Dana White only has a 9% stake in the company. The Fertitta brothers, Frank and Lorenzo own 81%, while Flash Entertainment, a company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government owns the final 10%.
ESPN have claimed that four separate companies are in the running to take control of the company, but Chinese company Dalian Wanda are favourites to complete the deal. The company already owns a 20% stake in La Liga giants Atletico Madrid.
LOL: @danawhite says UFC is not for sale and that I'm not a "fan of facts." We had 5 independent sources on this pic.twitter.com/ST17klo1XK
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 11, 2016
UFC President Dana White was quick to distance himself for the reports overnight. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that there is no substance to the story.
"The UFC is not for sale. The ESPN story is overblown", White revealed.
Whether there is substance to the reports remains to be seen, but increasing the valuation of the UFC from $2 million to $4 billion in 15 years is an impressive achievement.
The company has two of their biggest events to date in the coming months. This weekend, UFC 198 takes place in Brazil ahead of UFC 200 in Las Vegas in July.
