Dana White Shoots Down UFC Exec’s Goal of Merging UFC, WWE Fanbases

The Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment recently completed a merger to come under the banner of a new company, TKO Holdings. UFC parent company Endeavor will hold 51% of shares in the new company while WWE stakeholders will have 49%.

While both promotions will continue to function independently, UFC senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein has a goal of merging the two vastly different fan bases at some point.

“Where we want to get is where every UFC fan is a WWE fan and every WWE fan is a UFC fan,” Epstein told ESPN.

However, UFC president Dana White couldn’t disagree more with Epstein, labeling the latter’s statement as one of the “dumbest of all time.” White, who was made UFC chief executive officer (CEO) with the merger, noted that the fan bases of pro wrestling and unscripted cage fighting are fundamentally different.

“Lawrence, I love you. One of the dumbest statements of all time,” White said during a media session following Dana White’s Contender Series. “I don’t know why he said that. I don’t even know what to say to that. No. There is some crossover, some people like WWE, some people like UFC, and some people like both. I don’t think there’s ever going to be a day where we turn every UFC fan into a WWE fan, or every WWE fan into a UFC fan. What’s beautiful about the synergy between these two fan bases, is they are very completely opposite… Maybe he was misquoted, I hope that was the case, because I couldn’t disagree with him more.”