It is no secret in the industry that rumors have been swirling regarding Paramount’s interested in selling Bellator, and in the press conference following his Tuesday Night Contender Series, Dana White has given his thoughts on the situation.
There have been multiple parties interested in the purchase of the promotion, which was founded in 2008 and has since grown into one of North America’s biggest players in the MMA space. Leading the pack is the Professional Fighters League (PFL), who apparently is getting close to making a deal to acquire Bellator at a price of $500 million.
How close the PFL is to sealing the deal is currently unknown, but one thing we know for sure is that the UFC has no interest in the acquisition.
Dana White buries Bellator: “‘Why on God’s green fucking earth would anybody buy Bellator?” pic.twitter.com/Qf8o16MUQN
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) September 6, 2023
“Why on God’s green f******* Earth would anybody buy Bellator? So what we were just talking about with business and making the right moves and making the right decisions, there’s been lots of bad ones. Bellator would be one of the f****** biggest.
“Bellator’s $500 million? Awesome. Sounds like a steal. Sounds like a f******* steal. Buy that thing quick before who else does? Come on, you guys. It’s f****** silly!.”
White’s statement regarding fighter pay:
“One of the big things he said in there, which is absolutely false, is that they pay more than the UFC, which is absolutely positively not true. But I do see them waste unbelievable amounts of money. You can only waste unbelievable amounts of money for so long, no matter how much money somebody has.”
Despite Bellator and PFL having massive stables of fighters, many feel that they lack the star power and marketing ability to bring themselves to a competitive level within the industry. Not to mention, the distribution strategy is not nearly as dialed in as the UFC, as neither the PFL nor Bellator consistently follow any sort of pay-per-view structure.
Given the nature of White’s position within the UFC, it is not a shock that he reacted the way he did and downplayed the situation. But, the reality is, Bellator and PFL together COULD serve as the most powerful competitors that the UFC has seen in quite some time. That being said, whether they can rise to the top and compete with the North American MMA powerhouse remains to be seen.
Full Press Conference: