Dana White To "Blow People's Minds" With An Announcement

septern · 10-06-2008 09:27AM

could mean something alright..........

rumors going around that a group of investors led by Dana White have agreed to buy the UFC from Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.
WWE's Vince McMahon is one of the group and will now own a minority stake in the company.

also rumoured that with the help of McMahon, who has extensive connections in the New York State Athletic Commission, they were able to get the UFC sanctioned in New York

Dragan · 10-06-2008 12:53PM

People seem to be really hinging on McMahon involvment. Personally i am undecided on whether it would be a good or a bad thing. I mean, he has done great things numbers wise with his own business, and the man knows how to promote.

10-06-2008 01:45PM

By the looks of it its looking more and more likely to be Vince McMahon merger alright.

Nothingcompares · 10-06-2008 02:06PM

jesus christ.

Fozzy · 10-06-2008 02:11PM

I really don't think that it'll be any sort of WWE deal. As much as Dana admires Vince and how WWE performs as a business, he's got to know how much many MMA fans look down on pro wrestling. As soon as there's any involvement like that people will start questioning if fights are worked and stuff like that

The Wrestling Observer commented on the possibility of a network tv deal, saying that it's usually impossible to keep deals like that quiet. Nothing with any substance has come out about that, so it looks very unlikely

The UFC being sold could be possible I think. I don't know of any rumoured buyers though

EDIT: I think the WWE press conference is just to publicise WWE giving away a million dollars every week

My top guess now would be some sort of international expansion by the UFC

Raze_them_all · 10-06-2008 02:40PM

I don't see how it can be about the UFC getting sold, mainly because Dana said it'd outline where the sport was going in the next 5 years, UFC going into Japan maybe??? filling the void left by Pride??

goo · 10-06-2008 02:54PM

That void is being quietly filled by Dream. Selling or making a deal with a network channel like Fox would absolutely change the direction of the sport, in Dana-speak at least.

Vince135792003 · 10-06-2008 03:39PM

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/6ff3f99708dc6e61e7e9a440bd976b1c.htm

Jakks Pacific signs four-year Ultimate Fighting license to develop action figure line

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Toy maker Jakks Pacific Inc. said Tuesday it has signed a four-year license agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization to develop a line of collector-focused action figures.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The new UFC product line is expected to launch next year. It will feature figures of UFC fighters Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Brock Lesnar, Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, Michael "The Count" Bisping and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva, among others.

The license also includes the UFC Octagon and other role-play items. Top of page

Again, it's probably completely unrelated but I'm just throwing it out there.

Fozzy · 10-06-2008 05:05PM

The announcement might be made soon. Dana and Brock Lesnar will be on tv to make some sort of announcement. I'd say it'll just be the action figures thing and there'll be something else on Thursday

http://mmajunkie.com/news/4538/dana-white-on-cnbc-today-big-news-finally-revealed.mma

UFC president Dana White and UFC heavyweight fighter Brock Lesnar are scheduled to appear today on CNBC's "Power Lunch."

The segment begins at 12:40 p.m., and according to UFC.com, the duo will announce "an exciting new UFC deal."

Of course, the media booking has led to speculation that the UFC executive will finally reveal details of the "major announcement" he first hinted at during a recent interview with ESPN The Magazine. MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) now has some details of what that announcement could entail.

When White first spoke of the big announcement, he said he was going to reveal it on Thursday this week in front of Zuffa LLC employees. We don't know if he's preempting that announcement with today's "Power Lunch" segment. It could be two completely deals, for all we know.

However, since White first promised the big announcement, we've been looking for answers about what it might entail.

We'll have a recap of the "Power Lunch" segment posted later today, but for now, this is what we've heard:

It could be a merchandising/licensing initiative

Late last night we heard from a source close to the UFC that the news may center on some type of merchandising or licensing deal that could benefit the organization's fighters and open new revenue streams. The addition of Lesnar in today's media appearance is peculiar. He's a former superstar with World Wrestling Entertainment, a company that's developed numerous merchandise outlets to rake in millions upon millions of dollars. It's worth noting that, like the UFC, the WWE also has a press conference planned for Thursday.

The UFC could be sold or restructured

There's been a lot of speculation about a possible change or restructuring to the UFC's ownership group. We've heard a variety of rumors along these lines, but getting confirmation has led to one dead end after another. However, MMAPayout.com has learned something quite interesting in these regards: "Financial giant Morgan Stanley has reportedly been working on a collaborative/financial deal between Zuffa and another party." MMAPayout.com also hints that the WWE may be part of a merchandising or licensing deal with the UFC.

It could involve Chuck Liddell vs. Anderson Silva

A reliable source tells MMAjunkie.com that the UFC is working toward a possible September pay-per-view main event between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. In fact, the source tells us that the fight -- which would likely take place at the UFC 88 Atlanta event we talked about last week -- has been pitched to both fighters, Liddell wants it, Silva wants it, but Silva's camp isn't completely sold on the idea. Regardless, though, it doesn't appear the announcement revolves around this potential blockbuster of a main event. That could be an announcement for a later time.

It doesn't involve a network-TV deal

Although the UFC may be moving forward on a network television deal (FOX and ABC/ESPN are believed to be the leading candidates), White has already publicly stated that the announcement has nothing to do with the UFC possibly landing such a deal.

It doesn't involve Floyd Mayweather

Despite persistent rumors that the announcement will center on Mayweather's involvement with the UFC -- with the boxer even potentially owning a piece of the UFC -- that rumors appear to be completely untrue. We're told that UFC officials never really had any interest in bringing Mayweather into the organization, and publicly, White has recently scoffed at the notion they're interested.

(UPDATE: Or maybe today's announcement is simply a dud, such as the release of new UFC action figures. Perhaps the big news will have to wait until Thursday.)

Nothingcompares · 10-06-2008 05:19PM

I hope it's those figures, I loved the wrestling ones.

dunkamania · 10-06-2008 05:37PM

Have CNBC in the office, will update presently

Just over

No to Merywether,
Noto FOx,
No to WWE,
No to going public

Let the rumour mill re-commence

Vince135792003 · 10-06-2008 08:44PM

dunkamania wrote: »

Have CNBC in the office, will update presently

Just over

No to Merywether,
Noto FOx,
No to WWE,
No to going public

Let the rumour mill re-commence

It can only be one thing: Dana, sick of the way WWE has treated tag teams over the last 5 years is setting up an MMA tag team division in the UFC! My hunch is Wanderlei/Rua against Demolition to crown the inaugural champs.

Seriously though, I can't think of anything the UFC could announce that could live up to this buildup.

Fozzy · 10-06-2008 09:09PM

Vince135792003 wrote: »

It can only be one thing: Dana, sick of the way WWE has treated tag teams over the last 5 years is setting up an MMA tag team division in the UFC! My hunch is Wanderlei/Rua against Demolition to crown the inaugural champs.

I was actually watching a tag team MMA match a while ago: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2bxqg_zst-yano-and-imanari-vs-morkevicius_extreme So it wouldn't be unprecedented!

Vince135792003 · 10-06-2008 09:48PM

The wait goes on:

www.wrestlingobserver.com

--The announcement today of the UFC action figures deal with Jakks is not the big announcement that has been teased all week. According to the UFC, that announcement will be made a week from today, and not on Thursday.

Fozzy · 10-06-2008 09:51PM

Vince135792003 wrote: »

The wait goes on:

I can't wait that long!

Fozzy · 11-06-2008 09:15PM

It's been reported that the announcement was due to be the legalisation of MMA in New York, but it was voted on today and it was turned down in "overwhelming fashion"

http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/06/11/5-oz-exclusive-ufcs-huge-announcement-revealed-plans-new-york-regulation-delayed/

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was informed by an anonymous source earlier this afternoon that the committee for Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development of New York held a vote on Wednesday to decide whether the state should regulate Mixed Martial Arts.

According to the source, the bill was voted down in overwhelming fashion.

An anonymous member of a major state athletic commission confirmed the information that was provided to Five Ounces Of Pain by our initial source.

This web site has also learned that the possible legalization of Mixed Martial Arts in the state of New York was the planned announcement that UFC president Dana White had hinted at during an interview that was published on ESPN.com last week.

According to a source, White was confident that the vote was going to pass and believed he had assurances that the proposed bill would be approved by the committee for Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development of New York. However, the proposal was unexpectedly voted down for reasons that are not yet clear. In a strange turn of events, it is believed that the chair of the committee, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, who introduced the proposal, ended up voting against it.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported earlier that White’s major announcement, which had been planned for Thursday, had been moved to Tuesday. According to a third anonymous source, the vote for the MMA bill was conducted towards the tail end of session earlier today.

The bill was not passed in large part because of opposition from both sides. However, according to our source, a republican committee member “picked up the bill” and applied pressure after the session to have the vote passed. In another unusual development, several committee members, primarily republican but also a few democrat, attempted to change their vote.

Because of the attempt to change votes, it was decided that the bill will be placed on the agenda again early next week. Such a decision to put a bill back on the agenda so quickly after it had been voted down was described as “highly irregular.”

As it stands, it’s still possible that White will be able to make his huge announcement as planned on Tuesday as there has been a major swing in support for the bill.

Sounds a bit strange

Clive · 11-06-2008 09:21PM

I've heard that Dana has put together a consortium that are going to buy the UFC from the Fertittas.

Part of the rumoured consortium is none of than Vince McMahon, of the WWE - who is known to have influence with the New York athletic commission.

I have no idea how true that is though

Fozzy · 11-06-2008 09:25PM

Clive wrote: »

I've heard that Dana has put together a consortium that are going to buy the UFC from the Fertittas.

Part of the rumoured consortium is none of than Vince McMahon, of the WWE - who is known to have influence with the New York athletic commission.

I have no idea how true that is though

Dana was on tv yesterday and said that there's not going to be any involvement with WWE

FiannaGym.com · 12-06-2008 12:32AM

The latest is that the UFC will be on HBO, which isn't considered a "television" "network", apparently.

Peace

Fozzy · 12-06-2008 12:52AM

Bit from the Wrestling Observer about the New York regulation voting:

Apparently the New York Tourism Committee hearing regarding voting on allowing MMA in New York today was a complete embarrassment. The politicians had no idea what MMA was, with many asking if there was even a referee in the matches. The bill would have been rubber stamped except one member went on a tirade about it being human cockfighting and virtually nobody had any idea what it was. It was the victim of UFC not reaching the older generation, and they were the ones in that room.

EDIT: And another bit:

Oliver Copp reported that Dana White denied to him and other reporters in London that the big surprise was going to be regulation in New York. He was openly talking about New York regulation to people. He also told Kevin Iole and Neil Davidson how it was something he has to tell his employees first, and obviously running MSG wouldn't fit into that category.

judas101 · 12-06-2008 12:58AM

none of this stuff blows my mind tbh

Fozzy · 12-06-2008 01:01AM

judas101 wrote: »

none of this stuff blows my mind tbh

I don't think that the "mind blowing" stuff has been mentioned yet

dunkamania · 12-06-2008 10:24AM

FiannaGym.com wrote: »

The latest is that the UFC will be on HBO, which isn't considered a "television" "network", apparently.

Peace

In my mind this is the most likely outcome. The New York regulation voting just isnt mind blowing, and wouldnt change the nature of the sport for 5 years. Dana has already debunked alot of the other rumours. A HBO deal would be huge for MMA. HBO boxing is the gold standard for boxing and MMA on HBO could be on the same scale. It would massively increase the UFC's mainstream appeal, and would go along way towards recovering ground lost to elitexc in recent time.

Burnt · 12-06-2008 11:45AM

[edit] content already posted[/edit]

goo · 12-06-2008 03:03PM

The NYC vote seems to have been so confusing. All the lobbying done seems to have been to leaders, not everyone who'd be voting, so like was said already everyone was pretty clueless. Apparently afterwards some Republican was trying to sway people and people tried to change their votes and all sorts. They're supposed to be voting again soon.