Report: UFC in advanced negotiation to sell

There have been rumors circulating that Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC has been in discussion about selling the fighting promotion. It has just been a rumor and hasn’t really been discussed in the media until today when ESPN ran a report about the idea of selling and even named some of the top interested parties:

The owners of the UFC are in advanced talks to sell the business, sources told ESPN.com.

At least four bidders are believed to have submitted bids for the organization, including WME/IMG, China Media Capital, The Blackstone Group and Dalian Wanda Group. The winning bid, should things proceed, is expected to be for a valuation between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations told ESPN.com.

“As a private company, we don’t discuss speculation or rumors related to our business,” said David Sholler, vice president of public relations and athlete marketing for the UFC.

source: espn.com

About Zuffa

Zuffa, LLC /ˈzuːfə/ is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta to be the parent entity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after they purchased it from the Semaphore Entertainment Group. Lorenzo Fertitta is the company’s CEO and chairman while Dana White runs the day-to-day operations. Zuffa is co-owned by Fertitta brothers (40.5% each), Dana White (9%) and Flash Entertainment (10%).

The word “Zuffa” is an Italian word (pronounced [ˈtsuffa]), meaning “fight”.

source: wikipedia.com