UFC Brand Generates Revenues But Also Infantile Pre-Fight Press Conferences As Fight Show Promoter Closes 2023 With UFC 296 At T-Mobile Arena
By Cassandra Cousineau, LVSportsBiz.com UFC Writer
Numbers don’t lie. However, they can be confusing.
As Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) closes out its 30th anniversary year, it’s clear the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion is one of the most successful combat organizations in the sport’s history. Saturday evening, UFC 296 at T-Mobile Arena will mark almost two dozen events hosted by the fight show kings in Las Vegas this year.
During the past 12 months, the company’s financial success has validated the irreverent persona of its president, Dana White, with strong revenue numbers. In fact, White has already announced UFC 296 is a sellout with a gate of $9.15 million.
During the first two quarters of 2023, UFC produced $611.9 million, including media rights and content, live events, sponsorship and consumer product licensing. Media rights and content, which is largely tied to a rights deal with ESPN, was out the largest chunk with $224.1 million in the first quarter and $211.7 million in the second.
Endeavor completed its merger of the WWE and UFC properties in September with UFC revenue counted as $397.5 million in Q3. Live events like UFC 296 accounted for $63.8 million, while sponsorships were 54.2 million for the first half of the year.
According to the SEC filing, UFC produced $1.14 billion in revenue, which according to a past financial filing from Endeavor,, was up 20 percent from the same time in 2021.
These are real grown-up numbers. So, here’s the confusing part. In the front of the house, the promotion consistently allows marquee fighters to stand at the microphone hurling grotesque remarks at one another to sell events. It’s behavior that should be completely beneath and unacceptable for any organization.
A week’s worth of gauche remarks included challenger Colby Covington’s comments about the dead father of welterweight champion Leon Edwards plus a press conference featuring Dricus du Plessis and middleweight champion Sean Strickland. That press conference involved Strickland being a victim of child abuse. Fight week actually started with Strickland and a handful of other UFC fighters disparaging the wife and marriage of welterweight Ian Machado Garry.
Yes, for UFC controversy sells and business has been booming. It’s expected that the UFC will continue to report record revenues, especially after inking a new multi-year deal worth over $100 million making Bud Light the official beer of the promotion. Plus, White and the UFC team will start negotiating terms on a new broadcast rights deal in 2024, which could end up being one of the most lucrative contracts in sports.
Next year, UFC’s seven-year deal with T-Mobile Arena also expires.
The promotion is in an interesting position as White announced in November he booked the Sphere in Las Vegas for a Mexican Independence Day in mid-September 2024.
“It is a massive challenge, and I love every minute of it. I’m super excited about this. I love challenges. I’m gonna put on the greatest live combat sports show everyone has ever seen,” White said.
But for all of UFC’s very big deals, there’s the swamp of dumb trash talk.
For example, this isn’t the first time Covington has waded into dirty talk waters.
In 2020, White said this about free speech and expression: “Who is about free speech more than we are. We’ve never stopped anybody from expressing themselves and saying how they feel. My philosophy is always this is a fight. People are gonna say mean sh-t to each other. It’s like, they shouldn’t be allowed to say that? They’re gonna f’ing punch each other in the face tomorrow. This is the fight game.”
That’s White’s favorite two words: fight game. It’s also a big, billion-dollar money game. At some point, the UFC brand is going to have to reconcile the numbers with the behavior linked to the brand. As the newly formed Bellator/PFL company gears up to take bites of the UFC mammoth piece of the fight show market, MMA fans will determine whether or not they are loyal to a brand over a quality product being made available elsewhere.
The ESPN+ pay-per-view begins at 7 PM Saturday Las Vegas/Pacific Time. It’s headlined by two title fights. Edwards will defend his UFC welterweight title against Covington. The card also features the return of fan favorite, Tony Ferguson, against Englishman Paddy Pimblett.
