Business of MMA
Media rights, money and the industry behind the cage.
BusinessMartin walks seven weeks after the merger: PFL-MVP loses its CEO with the rebrand mid-flight
The executive who built the combination stepped down effective immediately, endorsing Jake Paul’s business partner to lead what he assembled. The same week the merged company signed its first star, it lost the man who ran it.
BusinessKi MMA: Scott Coker’s promotion built on one division, a ring, and a 32-man world tournament
The doctrine: depth over breadth, brackets over belts, and no divisions until the talent earns them.
BusinessParamount+ buys the front yard: T-Mobile Arena’s plaza rebrands under a multi-year deal, debuting with Garcia-Benn fight week
The streamer that bought the UFC’s rights now owns the ground where fight fans gather on the Strip. The funnel gets its first test this weekend.
MMAPFL boss pumps the brakes on the Usman-to-UFC noise: ‘They’re not legally allowed to’ make an offer
John Martin used Helwani’s show to remind the sport that free agency has rules, and the exclusive window still belongs to his company. The broadcast graphics, the White and Campbell handshakes, and Cormier’s on-camera pleading, all of it, in Martin’s telling, is staged noise until the clock runs out.
MMAUFC 330 breaks the Philadelphia arena’s all-time gate record, and the number tells a bigger story than the night
A sold-out 19,238 and $6.7 million in tickets, roughly $2 million past the building’s previous best, from a card with no marquee local draw, in a city the promotion had skipped for seven years. Dana White read the numbers out loud. The live-events business heard them.
BusinessFightStar signs global DAZN deal, putting the UK regional promotion in 200-plus territories free to view
Twelve years after starting out in Huddersfield working men’s club territory, the London-based promotion lands a worldwide streaming home. Three events this year, starting August 23 at Indigo at The O2, with a former UFC fighter in the co-main and a £25,000 tournament running underneath.
MMADana White dismisses the MVP-PFL merger, Jake Paul fires back with Netflix numbers, and the promotional war has its opening week
The UFC boss says stacking two promotions nobody watches does not produce a rival. Jake Paul says his Netflix debut outdrew a UFC card. Both spoke on the same day, both picked the metrics that suit them, and the market has not voted yet.