Ex-UFC CEO Vince McMahon reveals why he decided against buying UFC: ‘I didn’t like that’
Former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) CEO, Vince McMahon has revealed why he decided against purchasing the UFC when it was previously floated to him years ago, despite encouragement from his son, Shane McMahon to splash the cash on the North American mixed martial arts organization.
Vince McMahon, a former CEO of the WWE and a professional wrestler, featured as part of a Nefltix miniseries which released this week titled Mr. McMahon — detailing his rise in the world of professional wrestling with the WWE, recorded prior to the levelling of sexual assault and trafficking allegations against him by a former employee at multiple corporate headquarters of the organization.
And previously linked with a move to purchase the UFC, McMahon’s son, Shane insisted he had encouraged his father to consider bidding on the mixed martial arts organization, ultimately to no avail — with the former WWE CEO expressing his distaste for the “business model” at play in the promotion.
Shane McMahon reveals encouragement to Vince McMahon to purchase UFC
“At the time, you have seen, they got some financial problems and came to us and said would you like to purchase the UFC?” Shane McMahon said. “I go, ‘This is cool. Dad let’s just go for this one.’ I thought we could really grow that brand because it’s tailor-made for what we do. We have a production team, we have live events team, we have a merchandising team, we have all of it, just ready to go. So to me, it was plug-and-play.”
“When it was presented in terms of buying UFC, I didn’t like that business model,” Vince McMahon explained. “Our business model, you could create characters much like Disney or someone else. And we can use them forever as opposed to boxing/UFC. Once you beat, once you hurt or some, you clear it all.”
