While Dana White is not against the idea of fighters crossing over to WWE, he doesn’t believe there will be much crossover the other way.
While speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, the UFC president was asked about potential crossovers:
Not really, I mean it wouldn’t happen anymore than it has, regardless of the relationship. When you have people interested in becoming professional wrestlers, I mean it was something that I was never against anyway. I mean if it was something they wanted to do and they felt their career was winding down and they were talented enough to do it and the WWE was actually interested in them, I never had a problem with that.
White categorized former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar as being “a one of one” with his collegiate wrestling background and winning the NCAA championship in 2000 before signing with WWE after leaving the University of Minnesota:
When you talk about guys coming over here to the UFC, Brock Lesnar is definitely a one-of-one, you know what I mean? He’s a big dude, he’s agile for being as big as he is, and he came over here and he won the title. There’s not going to be any of that crossover – and then you had, you know, all the dummies online, “Oh, now this is all going to be fake too”. We’re sanctioned by the athletic commissions in every state, you morons, okay? The government oversees us, there’s not going to be, you know, they got the judges, they got the referees and you can gamble on this. Nothing is going to change, it’s exactly the same.
White sees the true value of this deal is the power it provides Ari Emanuel both with live events and its upcoming media rights deals for both companies:
The parent company can deliver a lot of things to both businesses. And if you’re a guy like Ari, right, and we’re going into renegotiations with arenas, Ari has the UFC, the WWE, PBR, and lots of other things. So, he becomes very powerful, and also, when you talk about re-negotiating television rights like you were a minute ago, this company is an absolute powerhouse.
John Pollock & Brandon Thurston recently interviewed CNBC media reporter Alex Sherman, who broke the news of the pending merger.
