{"id":298412,"date":"2023-11-06T10:24:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T10:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=298412"},"modified":"2023-11-06T10:24:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T10:24:03","slug":"white-insists-ufcs-deal-with-saudi-arabia-was-organised-by-mcmahon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/mma\/white-insists-ufcs-deal-with-saudi-arabia-was-organised-by-mcmahon\/","title":{"rendered":"White insists UFC&apos;s deal with Saudi Arabia was organised by McMahon"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Dana White insists that the UFC&#8217;s new deal with Saudi Arabia was organised by Vince McMahon, as MMA chief heaps praise on &#8216;incredible partner&#8217; after signing historic deal<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The UFC recently announced their first ever Fight Night planned in Saudi Arabia\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>UFC chief Dana White has confirmed that Vince McMahon organised the deal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to Mail Sport&#8217;s new boxing podcast THE HOOK &#8211; with exclusive interviews\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dana White has labelled Vince McMahon as an &#8216;incredible partner&#8217; after claiming he was responsible for the UFC&#8217;s historic deal with Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, t<span>he <\/span>UFC<span>\u00a0announced they will host their first ever event in Saudi Arabia in March next year in news hailed by <\/span>Conor McGregor<span> as &#8216;incredible&#8217;.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It seems the nation state will dip their toe into the mixed martial arts scene with a UFC Fight Night event planned, rather than a major pay-per-view card to start with.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the historic deal, UFC president White claimed that it was in-fact McMahon &#8211; his new business partner &#8211; that organised the deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Sports Business Journal, White said: &#8216;It was Vince McMahon. It was 100% Vince McMahon. He made every call, he didn&#8217;t make one move without picking up the phone and calling me and getting me in the loop and seeing if I was cool with this and that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/09\/77449575-12714835-image-m-6_1699262239661.jpg\" height=\"388\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/09\/77449555-12714835-image-m-4_1699262232037.jpg\" height=\"388\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>UFC chief Dana White (R) said Vince McMahon (L) organised the UFC&#8217;s deal with Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/09\/77267833-12714835-The_UFC_has_agreed_to_stage_its_first_ever_event_in_Saudi_Arabia-a-7_1699262485528.jpg\" height=\"429\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The UFC has agreed to stage its first ever event in Saudi Arabia next year under the &#8216;Fight Night&#8217; promotion<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;And he went from being, oddly enough, I don&#8217;t know why, an enemy (of\u00a0UFC&#8217;s), to being an unbelievable incredible partner.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The news comes after UFC&#8217;s merger with the WWE, controlled by Endeavor Group, which has staged many shows in Saudi Arabia since 2014 after penning a lucrative deal with the Kingdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is the first time the WWE has not run under a McMahon name, having been a family-run company, firstly with Vince McMahon Sr, before his son took over in 1982.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the merger, McMahon stepped down from his position as WWE CEO and undertook a new role as the company&#8217;s Executive Chairman.<\/p>\n<p>As Executive Chairman, McMahon is tasked with issues such as securing a new media rights deal for the WWE &#8211; which explains the deal with Saudi Arabia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia has increased involvement and investment in a number of sports in recent years, particularly football, golf and boxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Endeavor &#8211; who own UFC &#8211; hold a 51 per cent stake in the combined company, while WWE shareholders will hold 49 per cent, according to the agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was confirmed that the deal values the new company at more than \u00a317.3bn ($21.4bn), with UFC valued at \u00a39.8bn ($12.1bn) and WWE at \u00a37.5bn ($9.3bn).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/09\/75337331-12714835-Representatives_from_both_Endeavor_and_the_WWE_were_present_for_-a-8_1699262670123.jpg\" height=\"349\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The UFC and WWE were part of a historic merger,\u00a0controlled by Endeavor Group, in September<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2023\/10\/25\/The%20Hook_Promo_Desktop.636.png\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/mma\/article-12714835\/Dana-White-insists-UFCs-new-deal-Saudi-Arabia-organised-Vince-McMahon-MMA-chief-heaps-praise-incredible-partner-signing-historic-deal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dana White insists that the UFC&#8217;s new deal with Saudi Arabia was organised by Vince McMahon, as MMA chief heaps <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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