UFC
UFC” redirects here. For other uses, see UFC (disambiguation).
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings.[7][8][9][10] The largest MMA promotion in the world,[11] the UFC has over 578 fighters contracted that fight across 11 weight divisions (eight men’s and three women’s).[12] The organization produces events worldwide and abides by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.[13] As of 2024, it had held over 700 events. https://suzukicarprices.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=768&action=edit has been its president since 2001 and CEO since 2023. Under White’s stewardship, it has grown into a global multi-billion-dollar enterprise.[14]
The UFC was founded by businessman Art Davie and Brazilian martial artist Rorion Gracie,[15] and the first event was held in 1993 at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado.[16] The purpose of the UFC’s early competitions was to identify the most effective martial art in a contest with minimal rules and no weight classes between competitors of different fighting disciplines. In subsequent events, more rigorous rules were created and fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create a separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.
In Japan, Mixed Martial Arts took a separate, yet convergent evolution, with origins in “shoot wrestling“, a form of professional wrestling which had more realistic-looking moves and matches while deemphasizing theatrical elements. Promotions like Shooto and Pancrase discarded the scripts and were already putting on hybrid fighting shows with real fights by the time the UFC was founded.[87][88] This culminated in the creation of Pride Fighting Championships in 1997. At its height, Pride was the world’s most popular MMA promotion, and helped to popularize the sport in Japan and in the world. Having high attendances on large sports arenas and watched by millions of spectators through free-to-air and pay-per-view television. Meanwhile, the UFC was struggling with political persecution, low pay-per-view sales, and doing events in backwater casinos.[86] At that time, many of UFC’s best fighters would leave to fight in Pride or other Japanese organizations instead due better pay and prestige.[86]
Initial intentions were for the organizations to be run separately but aligned together with plans to co-promote cards featuring the champions and top contenders from both organizations, making comparisons to the AFL–NFL merger and the creation of a “Super Bowl” of MMA.[86] However, after purchasing Pride, Dana White felt that the Pride model was not sustainable[91] and that the brand became “toxic” in Japan, being difficult to find a new television deal.[86] The organization instead folded, with many former Pride fighters such as Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Maurício “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović, Wanderlei Silva, and others already being realigned under the UFC brand.[92] On October 4, 2007, Pride Worldwide closed its Japanese office, laying off 20 people who were working there since the closing of its parent company Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE).[93]
On June 18, 2008, Lorenzo Fertitta accommodated the UFC’s growth by announcing his resignation from Station Casinos in order to devote his energies to the international business development of Zuffa, particularly the UFC. The move proved to be pivotal, as Fertitta helped strike TV deals in China, France, Mexico, and Germany as well as open alternative revenue streams with a new UFC video game and UFC action figures, among other projects.[94]
On June 18, 2008, Lorenzo Fertitta accommodated the growth by announcing his resignation from Station Casinos in order to devote his energies to the international business development of Zuffa, particularly the UFC. The move proved to be pivotal, as Fertitta helped strike TV deals in China, France, Mexico, and Germany as well as open alternative revenue streams with a new video game and UFC action figures, among other projects.[94]
