Why Brock Lesnar is worth more to the UFC than the WWE

Nate Wilcox writing for BE recently did an interesting piece explaining why Brock Lesnar is worth more to the UFC than he is to the WWE, where he is currently employed with limited responsibilities, for millions of dollars per year. It centers on the WWE disastrous effort to take the next step from PPV. It looks as if it was the right move, excellently executed, but perhaps at the wrong time.

Ironically the WWE’s move to an online subscription that includes all PPVs is tremendous from a fan point of view. MMA devotees can only look on with envy at a $9.95 per month plan that includes all PPVs.

However, sometimes fan heaven is league hell. Dave Meltzer writing for MMAFighting describes what has happened.

The WWE in 2015 is in a very different place than it was in during 2011, when Lesnar was offered a reported $5 million per year to return on a limited schedule. That company turned a $24 million profit in 2011. Today’s company, almost entirely due to the gamble of starting its own network, which has nearly killed its pay-per-view business, as well as cut down on its own web site income significantly, is, based on current projections, looking at $40 million in losses this year.

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Worse, the creation of the network has killed any affect he’d have on pay-per-view numbers. In July, the last show WWE did without him, they did 31,000 U.S. buys on pay-per-view. While they did 63,000 in August with him, that was SummerSlam, a show that would be expected to be way up, the September show he headlined was only 30,000.

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From a business standpoint, Lesnar was a huge draw for UFC. UFC is struggling on pay-per-view this year due to a ridiculous amount of injuries and loss of people like Georges St-Pierre, Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen for a variety of reasons. The Lesnar who showed up on their doorstep in 2007 asking for a chance, and became the company’s biggest drawing card for the next three years, would be a godsend.

There are some issues with a potential return. Brock is 38, but then again the interim championship will fought between a 40-year-old Mark Hunt and a 38-year-old Fabricio Werdum. Brock went out 0-2, so finding opponents that will offer a fair match up while exciting the fans enough to part with 50 bucks could be challenging. However, a number of credible sources have pointed to Lesnar’s diverticulitis as having a deleterious effect on his conditioning and ability to train, so a Brock at 100% could be interesting, even game changing.

Here is the UFC official top heavyweight list:

Champion : Cain Velasquez

1. Fabricio Werdum

2. Junior Dos Santos

3. Travis Browne

4. Mark Hunt

5. Stipe Miocic

6. Josh Barnett

7. Andrei Arlovski

8. Bigfoot Silva

9. Roy Nelson

10. Ben Rothwell

11. Alistair Overeem

12. Gabriel Gonzaga

13. Frank Mir

14. Stefan Struve

15. Matt Mitrione

Who on the list, or off, would you want to see Brock fight on PPV?

At the very least, Brock is in a rare position in mixed martial arts, and in professional wrestling – he has credible alternatives. In the UFC and in the WWE, the talent rarely has anywhere else to turn that offers comparable opportunities. Brock Lesnar is in position to field offer from each company.

May the best offer win.