Network television deal? Nope. Regulation in New York? Nope. Sale to major international investor? Nope.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) today revealed the major announcement that will serve as an “indicator of where this business is going over the next five years” via Yahoo!Sports.com:
“Lorenzo Fertitta, the president of one of the most successful casino chains in Las Vegas, resigned his position with Station Casinos on Wednesday to work full-time with the UFC.”
It’s a move that White feels it is the biggest day in the history of the promotion. And he defends his opinion against those naysayers on the Internet who feel it’s much ado about nothing.
From White:
“The Internet may not consider this huge news, but what the people on the Internet think is huge and what I think is huge are two different things. But you know what? I think I have a pretty good track record. I think this is maybe the biggest day in UFC history. I’m so excited, I can’t begin to explain it to you. This is an historic day for me and this company.”
According to the report, Fertitta will concentrate on locking in more major blue chip sponsors, as well as expanding the international reach of the UFC brand to countries such as Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Dubai, India and other destinations across the globe.
Here’s a snip from Fertitta:
“The problem, if there is a problem, is that the business has gotten so successful, it’s requiring more time, focus and attention. Station Casinos is a business my family and I have built and now it’s a multi-billion dollar company. But the reality is, the UFC has gone through so much growth in the last eight years, my brother and I felt we’d be better in divide and conquer mode. He’ll stay at Station Casinos and take care of that and I’ll come over here and work on the issues involving the UFC.”
It must be nice indeed to have those types of problems.
To check out the entire article on the thinking behind this decision, as well as what it means for the UFC in particular and mixed martial arts in general, head over to Yahoo!Sports.com and read the entire article before commenting below.
136 Comments »
r u serious
Love how he ripped all you bloggers that expected big news…..lol
Actually, this is gigantic news for the UFC as a company which will eventually translate to lots of $$$ if the globalization of the sport is successful.
Look at much ka-ching Stern has made with the NBA by globalizing it (TV deals, jersey sales, stocks through the roof, etc.)
Big news for the MMA fan? Right now I would have to say,
Zzzzzzzz……..
F*CK this announcement. Sure its good for the UFC and potentially to its fighters, but quite frankly, for the US fans, it sucks. It just means that more and more events will be held overseas. Back in the day, I used to be able to go to a PPV at Mohegan Sun or Boardwalk Hall in AC like 4 times a year to watch the UFC. The last time they were in that area was UFC 55.
Now, lets talk about something more interesting.
Tonights episode of TUF is 1 and a half hours long. Does that guarantee that Jesse is the one to get kicked out of the UFC and they have to have another fight to see who will fight at the finale?
I agree with “F*CK this announcement.”
haha, and Jesse’s tongue is too big. listen to that guy talk! damn!
Below are the current MMAWeekly World MMA Rankings, which are up-to-date as of June 18.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
#1 Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Fedor Emelianenko
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Randy Couture
4. Josh Barnett
5. Tim Sylvia
6. Andrei Arlovski
7. Fabricio Werdum
8. Gabriel Gonzaga
9. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
10. Aleksander Emelianenko
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
#1 Light Heavyweight Fighter in the World: Quinton Jackson
2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
3. Chuck Liddell
4. Lyoto Machida
5. Wanderlei Silva
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
9. Keith Jardine
10. Thiago Silva
MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)
#1 Middleweight Fighter in the World: Anderson Silva
2. Paulo Filho
3. Rich Franklin
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Kazuo Misaki
6. Yushin Okami
7. Nathan Marquardt
8. Dan Henderson
9. Gegard Mousasi
10. Denis Kang
WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
#1 Welterweight Fighter in the World: Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Josh Koscheck
5. Matt Hughes
6. Matt Serra
7. Jake Shields
8. Diego Sanchez
9. Carlos Condit
10. Karo Parisyan
LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (160-pound limit)
#1 Lightweight Fighter in the World: B.J. Penn
2. Takanori Gomi
3. Shinya Aoki
4. Tatsuya Kawajiri
5. Gesias “JZ” Calvancante
6. Gilbert Melendez
7. Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro
8. Mitsuhiro Ishida
9. Joe Stevenson
10. Sean Sherk
Taken into consideration are a fighter’s performance in addition to his win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents, difficulty of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is the most comprehensive rankings system in the sport.
Fighters who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are not eligible for Top 10 consideration until they have fought one time after the completion of their suspension.
Fighters must also have competed within the past 12 months in order to be eligible for Top 10 consideration.
Cool Mania, I worked it out
How come Shogun made it to number 2????
shogun shouldn’t be in the top 5 at this point… maybe in the past but not now
Cuz he is an animal.
The Heavyweight list is accurate, but I would put Barnett over Randy.
Lightheavyweight is pretty accurate, forrest still may be too high on that list
Lightweight its interesting it lacks a lot of UFC lightweights, I dont disagree completely but guys like Ishida should be taken off and Florian added to the list.
Jake Sheilds and Dan Henderson are ranked way too low!
Lightweight division is interesting too, especially as few fighters are from the UFC.
John, I’m sure you’ll be happy Aoki is top 3
Hey John, what about New York rejection??
Not enough votes apparantly
I seriously cannot believe Rashad Evans is not listed at light heavy. He is still undefeated. He beat Jardine on TUF 2. Guess to get ranked through that site he has to beat Liddel. I like mmaranks.com too.
I agree about Evens.I also can not understand Sherk being # 10 at 160. He’s better than most of them on the list. As for Middleweights, Henderson # 8, Bisbing not even on the list??? I don’t know, I really don’t have time to go threw all this. To me these rankings are weak!!
Are you guys seriously complaining that Bisping and Evans didn’t make the lists? They’re not up there for a reason, they have yet to beat anyone on the lists or of real meaning.
I’m sick of the Forrest is “too high on the list” crap… he beat the tar out of #2… no excuses… whooped him.
Don’t be surprised if this causes major friction between him and Dana….. but who cares July 19th is going to be nuts!!!!
Are you serious? the NBA has globalized at the expence of losing its American audiance. They have spent too much time marketing to the rest of the world that Americans have lost interest in the NBA.
What!!! Last night (game 6) should have GREAT ratings!!! Lost interest??? You can thank the Celtsfor getting people interested again.
yes, he is serious. But you all should not be surprised as dana king has been doing this time after time. he is such a joke. And if he didnt want us bloggers to get worked up, then why instigate us with this “HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT BS” ….dont say i didnt warn yall about dana king…
word. Dana has zero credibility.
Move over Dana! I wonder who’s going to have the bigger office? How r they going to divide responsiblities?… will be interesting to find out more about the office/business dynamics.
I do recall the words “mind blowing” coming from one of Dana’s original descriptions of this announcement.
damn.. didnt expect that one.
although it is very underwhelming considering we were waiting for something bigger.
I GOT A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
It’s 12:30 and I will be taking a nap for the next 2 hours, hope you guys can get along without me!
That’s bigger news than the Fertita’s thinking Dana sucks at his job!
thats what i thought, its grown to big for dana to handle is more like it. it sucks as news but i am sure is a good thing for the ufc.
so thats the huge annoncement…
wow this is the announcement? i think the ufc action figures is a better and bigger news
that’s it??????
gimme a break here
that will affect mma for 5 years how? Dana was rigght, the media jumped on this, and it was more of a employee announcement
Dana’s original statement, it’s big news for the ufc, not for us!
“I said I wanted to make the announcement to my employees, so it’s not even like I was making a big announcement to the media. If I was doing that I would’ve had a big news conference and then gone off to London. I wanted to wait until I was back to do it.”
How is that the original statement Kenvin? you just copied what he said after the media was pressuring him to say what the big deal was. I remember what he said first, he said he had a huge statement to make and he’ll talk to his employees first and then to the MEDIA.
¬¬ stupid dana
wow man, this just blew my mind away! That’s awesome news, never thought of that one. this is so much better than a tv deal, this should have a huge impact in MMA for the next 5 years or so! (sarcasm…)
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m sure Dana was working on something huge, opened his mouth before the right time, the deal dropped and he was left with nothing. So he had to pull a white rabbit out of the hat, that white rabbit was lorenzo. How will this have an impact in MMA for the next five years? Maybe an impact in the UFC for the next five years, but not MMA…
i feel like i just blew my wad to find out it was a she male
LMAO
hahaha..that was classic kevin.
I don’t know how 2 co-heads are gonna work..I guess Dana isn’t the main boss anymore, there’s someone finally ahead of him.
you knew
LOL
lol @ “it”
HAHAHAHA
Nah Dana probably really does think this is a huge deal, it just shows how out of touch he can be with the fans of the sport. What annoys me is that he originally stated that there would be this HUGE news and that he was renting someplace to inform his employees first before it was announced to the media, then he comes out and says it was never intended as a big media announcement. Well Dana, why not just make the fawkin’ announcement to your employees without leaking it first? He just reminds of the little boy crying wolf one (or three) too many times, it’s really kind of funny, in an irritating to the fans kind of way. At least it provides a little more fodder for the speculation threads the next time he has a HUGE announcement to make.
that sucks!
boycott UFC
boycott elite xc
boycott MMA!!!
don’t forget to boycot mexicutioner!
boycot boycots
This is a big announcement. I dont see how no one sees that. Big things are coming up for the UFC. Just give it time. With Lorenzo coming on full board, alot more things will be able to get done.
I agree, from a fans point of view it sucks, but in the long run this is a big deal.
all it means is they (fertita’s) think Dasna is doing a bad job, and they want to be more hands on. It’s good for business, but it wasn’t big news for the fans!
I disagree, obviously Dana has been doing a pretty good job and now with the UFC growing as much as it has Dana can’t do it all by himself.
I agree Joey 1.0
I think its great that the second highest paid casino executive in Las Vegas is taking charge of the international business of the biggest MMA company in the world. Period.
Thats what you call going global.
I cant believe that news is shit. mr.rice-a-roni is correct the action figures is better news
Vera dropping weight class and Silva going up weight class is bigger news then that bullsh*t!!
yea seriously wtf is up with that! maybe a big announcement for the ufc as an organization but come on now..us fans were expecting a lil more than that!!
I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO UPSET!
haha
Give me the Rampage action figure, much more exciting than this horse shit.
You’re right! I think they should just rid of Lorenzo AND Dana and just let the company run itself!! Big things are going to come of this. Damn. People have no patience. We just got a free card announced for the 19th. Be happy about that.
@ Joey 1.0
Ahhh. you’re “that guy” You know, The guy that always butt’s in with “Stop complaining and be more like me guy”.
Zip it.
This is pretty damn important. Its like the UFC execs are shifting into high gear now. I’m blown away. XD He walked away from $113.8 million, so he could focus on UFC full time. This is gonna be big for Dana and the UFC.
Now that you put it that way,this is pretty big guys lol.
i have big news too! my best friend’s helping me sell door-to-door vacuums!
I love it. There announcement is that the owner of the UFC is going to work for the UFC.
ya it’s happened before, only it was called the Dallas Cowboys. And that worked out well for them.
This is a pretty HUGE announcement, and this is not sarcasm… wow.
well thats that
Wow just as exciting as the last “big announcement” where they announced they got a major sponsor (and then raised the price of the PPV $5). I guess they’ll raise the price again to pay his salary.
Lorenzo and his brother Frank..R those dudes. I give them props for transforming ufc/MMa to what it is today and what it will be tommorrow.
As soon as they found out Trump is in the game with Affliction, Lorenzo was like, “thats it, im FULLTIME” “I got money and connection too, bring the heat”!!!
Agreed.
and we all know that a fertitta is a hell of a lot more bad ass than a chump trump
yup battle of the billionaires… get the attorney’s # on speed dial.
this is better than most of the rumors floatin around, think about it with two clearly driven and sucessful guys running the show, ufc wil be able to do so much more, i dont no much about Lorenzo Fertitta but the dude walked away from 113 million a year to do this. this is MASSIVE!!!! remember 2 heads are better than 1
I disagree, you can’t have two heads in one company, that would equal chaos. I can see one of them having more power than the other, I’m thinking DW will take a step back and lorenzo will become president soon.
the way this will work out is dw will be in charge of certain things, i.e. fights, locations, and more on the promoting side of it. and lf will probably be in charge of the business stand point like fighters contracts, investments, and all that jazz. to me that would be the logical solution since dana has a huge history of being able to promote a crappy fight into an awesome fight and obviously fertitta is successful so i’m actually excited for this.
Dana will still be the President and Frank will most likely now be CEO or CFO or something like that.
Nah, food and beverage manager!
Fertita was in the background anyways and we are used to seeing him on weigh ins and ppv shows….I believe the move is made in order to control Dana’s personal feelings effecting the business….the possibility of Tito returning to the UFC scene just went sky high….
and yes not the announcement that would get me jumping up & down on my seat.
I do realize this is a pretty big deal for the UFC, and even Dana addmits this isn’t huge news to the internet community……..THEN WHY THE F**K ADVERTISE IT SO LARGELY IN THE INTERNET COMMUNITY????
I don’t think it was pimped as much by the UFC or Dana as much as it was by the blogs and fans. We all like to assume what is going to happen and then are let down when it’s not what we thought. This is huge news. It’s huge internally for the UFC right now, and will eventually be huge for the fans.
Ditto. It was as big of a deal, as we made it.
Trump joins Affliction, uses name and contacts to cash in on new found interest in MMA = Fertittas counter punch.
Business move. plain and simple. Read into it all you want, it’s just business.
Hey but at least with Fertitta working more hands on he’ll negoatiate some of the contracts and not let dana white do em coz we know that dana can be a bit of moron when it comes to big negoatitations e.g “crazy fucking russians” when dealing with fedor.
you have a solid point dude
i was lookin’ forward to some open weight ufc tournament or dana white stepping in the cage, or even BJ penn v A.Silva…..some thing on them lines. this sucks ass
Why would the Lorenzo decide to come over to the UFC full time. They may be getting tired of Dana’s affairs. Although Dana has done an extraordinary job on getting MMA so popular here in the U.S he has seemingly lost touch with what the fans want and expect. With other promotions becoming more and more popular, the UFC might finally be at wits end. There is a big enough market for MMA, so UFC don’t feel threatened continue doing the right things for the fans and we will never stop watching.
I want my 3 weeks back. Thanks Dana.
This only proves what an ass Dana is. On the other hand at least we wont have to see Dana use his foul language and maybe the organization can be taken more seriously with lorenzo as the main figure now. Dana is obviously not doing a good job. For a major casino executive to quit his job of an annual earning of $118 million in 2007 to come to the UFC, theres obviously something wrong. Thats a massive paycut for him since he wont be making even a tenth of that a year, especially if Dana is still in the UFC. Somethings gotta give and lookout for Dana leaving by the end of the year!
haha, the huge announcement is that now there are 2 DANA WHITES! ROFL!!
just keep the fights coming and who cares who is running the joint. Give me a break the only thing i care about is the fights ufc, elite ect…
We, the internet MMA nerds, made this a big announcement for us. Everybody sat around for days guessing what it would be, and we all got worked up. Big deal, do all you women need a “new, exciting, fantastatic, deal” every week. What about all the prophesies of a deal with the WWE. If this were the Old Testament, those guys would be getting stoned right now.
Sure, I’m bummed out that it was’nt some new TV, or fight deal with Fedor or whoever, but give it a rest already.
Also, given that Trump has thrown his hat into the MMA ring, it’s reasonable to assume that the Fertittas want to make sure he (Trump) does’nt cash in on all the new found interest in MMA. In the end it’s a great move for the UFC.
“We, the internet MMA nerds, made this a big announcement for us.”
yup, had nothing to do with Dana White creating big hype in what is now a pattern, weeks from TUF finale and an upcoming UFC
See, thats where you have things screwed up, we did blow it out of proportion, but thats how it was fed to us as well. Dana White said specifically that this wasn’t supposed to be a big “let’s call a press conference” announcement. So if it’s a big letdown, then it’s nobody’s fault but our own for buying into the hype that was never meant to exist. But, this is a big deal in the longrun, having Lorenzo on the forefront brings more of a voice of reason, he can open doors that Dana possibly couldn’t due to his attitude, and there’s also a bigger chance that a lot of the fighter’s you’ve wanted to see in the UFC, will make it over because when Dana slams the door in their face, Lorenzo will be right there to open it back up if he sees a potential to make a big fight(s).