Shane McMahon Tried To Buy The UFC Multiple Times In His Career
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The landscape of sports and entertainment was vastly different back in the 1990s. WWE was enjoying a surge of popularity, especially towards the end of the millennium. This second wrestling boom came as a result of the Monday Night Wars, a ratings competition between Ted Turner and Vince McMahon. Back then, wrestling was cool and you'd see a Stone Cold t-shirt on every other person.
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Vince McMahon made a whole lot of money and the superstars in the forefront, Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson, were forever immortalized in the annals of wrestling history and their popularity was apparent in the real world as well.
UFC Had Rough Formative Years
The Rock is a big-time movie star today because of his legacy in pro wrestling. While this was going on and Vince McMahon and his pals were swimming in green, a company by the name of Ultimate Fighting Championship was struggling to survive.
UFC did well in the first couple of events. The concept was simple, pitting fighters of one style against a fighter of another style and the last man standing would be the ultimate fighter. The events did okay but nowhere near enough to keep the organization going. The first event, UFC 1, was held in 1993, but the following years were rough.
The promotion continued holding fight cards but U.S authorities thought of the sport as too barbaric. In response, UFC sought cooperation with state athletic commissions but the parent company of the UFC at that time, Semaphore Entertainment Group, stood on the cusp of bankruptcy.
The majority owner, Bob Meyrowitz, had no other option left and UFC was up for sale. We all know what happened. Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta brought the promotion for $2 million USD and the rest is history. During the turbulent time of the organization, Shane McMahon tried to buy the UFC and according to details, he made the effort more than once.
The first time Shane McMahon tried to buy the UFC was in the year 2000. WWE was at the peak of its popularity and UFC was pretty much chump change. This was revealed by the president of the UFC, Dana White himself. During an interview with The Voice, White mentioned that Shane McMahon tried to buy the UFC in 2000, but the idea was vetoed by his father, Vince McMahon.
In the same year, Shane McMahon also pushed his father to buy ECW while it was close to death but Vince relented and opted to let the extreme promotion die out first before he made the purchase. Guess Shane McMahon wanted to branch out someway.
The second time Shane McMahon expressed interest was in the year 2004. This “secret'' was leaked out by long-time employee Bruce Prichard but the details are somewhat confusing. Prichard stated that in 2004, Shane McMahon was in talks with Bob Meyrowitz and Campbell McLaren. Meyrowitz was the previous owner of the UFC, and he had sold the company to the Fertitta brothers all the way back in 2001, and he was never involved in UFC ever again. But apparently, Meyrowitz was the one looking to sell the promotion…. In 2004.
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You would think Prichard made a mistake remembering the names but turns out, Prichard was actually a part of the negotiation, according to himself of course. So to recap, Prichard and Shane McMahon were in talks with Bob Meyrowitz, the former owner of the UFC, to purchase the Zuffa-owned promotion, owned by the Fertitta brothers. Talk about a confusing timeline but who knows? Maybe Meyrowitz was an agent acting on behalf of Lorenzo Fertitta.
Shane McMahon Tried Two Times
Regardless, the negotiations went on for a little while, and they decided on a price. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon was not satisfied with the demand, and the talks fell through. The UFC was on the brink of collapse in 2004 but 2005 was the breakout year for the struggling organization and with The Ultimate Fighter Season 1, business exploded and the rest is history.
Prichard mentioned that the owners were not asking for much at all but Vince McMahon was the boss and he said no so no deal. Putting aside the obvious errors, it is no surprise that Shane McMahon tried one more time to purchase the UFC. Shane-O-Mac is clearly a fan and around 2009, rumors began to circulate that Shane was looking to invest in the UFC. Nothing came out of that as well so maybe Vince McMahon shot him down a third time.
What if Shane and Vince actually bought the UFC? Hard to imagine how the MMA world would be in that alternate timeline, but the sport was bound to explode one day so even if Vince ran the company to the ground, another organization would have led the revolution.
