The most lucrative franchise sale in sports history as now official, as Zuffa LLC has sold the Ultimate Fighting Championship to William Morris Endeavor and International Management Group (WME-IMG) for a reported $4 billion.
The ownership group headed up by WME-IMG, one of the world's biggest talent agencies, also includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and MSD Capital as strategic investors and MSD Partners and Silver Lake Partners to provide equity financing.
“We’ve been fortunate over the years to represent UFC and a number of its remarkable athletes,” said WME-IMG co-CEOs Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell In a joint statement “It’s been exciting to watch the organization’s incredible growth over the last decade under the leadership of the Fertitta brothers, Dana White and their dedicated team.