After the merger between the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Dana White was no longer in charge of the UFC.
The WWE and the company that runs the UFC, Endeavour, will now be known as TKO, which is a new $21.4 billion sports entertainment business.
White isn’t leaving the scene completely, though. He has been named the UFC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Lawrence Epstein will keep his job as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UFC, according to a release from TKO. Nick Khan will still be in charge of WWE as President.
Executive Chairman Vince McMahon is in charge of the TKO Board of Directors, which has 11 members. Ari Emanuel, who runs Endeavour, is one of them.
During a UFC’s “Contender Series” press meeting, Dana White talked about how excited he was for the future because of this big change. He stressed that even though the merger has brought UFC to new heights, he still has the power to make decisions and is still in charge.
White said that the merger has given the organisation more resources and potential, and that he is committed to keeping UFC’s track record of success. He talked about plans to open more Performance Institutes around the world, including in Mexico, and suggested that UFC might get into boxing.
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There won’t be any big changes to how the UFC runs on a daily basis. But one interesting thing that could happen as a result of this merger is that UFC athletes who are nearing the end of their careers could follow Ronda Rousey and move to WWE.
In this new phase under the TKO Group Holdings name, Dana White’s move to CEO is part of a planned realignment of leadership that aims to use the strengths of both UFC and WWE to make TKO Group Holdings an even bigger force in combat sports and entertainment.