UFC President Dana White not too long ago revealed that the UFC’s huge break on NBC was stopped in its tracks by none aside from WWE’s Vince McMahon. In an interview with Steph McMahon, the UFC govt defined the scene. with Vince McMahon taking part in the last word heel. Based on White, the UFC was on the verge of a game-changing partnership with NBC again in 2011, solely to have the rug pulled out from below them by none aside from the WWE boss himself.
Vince McMahon Stalled NBC Cope with the UFC
In a narrative that sounds straight out of a boardroom cleaning soap opera, Dana White described how the UFC was “about to signal the deal and do all of the stuff” with NBC, just for the community’s executives to find a catch: McMahon had the appropriate to resolve if one other fight sport might air on USA Community, because of WWE’s contract.
Dana White
“We will’t consider this, we didn’t know this, we simply discovered. McMahon has the appropriate to find out whether or not one other fight sport can come onto USA,” White recalled the NBC execs saying. So, what do you do when the boss of professional wrestling holds your destiny in his fingers? You fly to WWE headquarters, in fact. Dana White and his group met with McMahon, who, in basic Vince trend, didn’t mince phrases: “I don’t need you on the community.” And identical to that, the complete NBC deal was “blown up,” Dana White stated.
“We’re about to signal the deal and do all of the stuff and NBC executives had been like, ‘We will’t consider this, we didn’t know this, we simply discovered. Vince has the appropriate to find out whether or not one other fight sport can come onto USA.’ We fly out, go to the WWE workplaces, we go meet along with your father… We lay it out to him. He’s like, ‘I don’t need you on the community’… In order that blew up the entire NBC deal. So then we fly out to L.A. and we do the Fox deal.”
As a substitute, the UFC brass, with Dana White, headed west to Los Angeles and struck up a brand new partnership with Fox, which turned out to be a pivotal transfer for the promotion. UFC turned a mainstream sports activities juggernaut, and each UFC and WWE now discover themselves below the identical TKO Group Holdings umbrella.
Vince McMahon has not too long ago been engulfed in a severe controversy involving a number of allegations of sexual misconduct and trafficking by former WWE workers, most notably a lawsuit filed in early 2024 by ex-employee Janel Grant accusing him of abuse and coercion at WWE’s Stamford headquarters. These allegations led McMahon to resign from his govt chairman position at TKO Group, the father or mother firm fashioned after WWE’s merger with UFC, although he stays a significant shareholder.
The scandal additionally triggered investigations by the SEC, leading to McMahon agreeing to pay over $1.7 million to settle fees associated to undisclosed hush-money funds. Regardless of denying all accusations and vowing to vigorously defend himself, McMahon’s fame has taken a big hit amid ongoing authorized battles and public scrutiny.
