Are you a fan of both WWE and UFC, someone who watches events from both promotions on a regular basis? If so, you’re just the type of person TKO, the new company formed from the merger of the world’s top pro wrestling and MMA brands, is hoping to find.
UFC CEO Dana White just doesn’t think there’s all that many people like you out there.
In the wake of the official launch of TKO this week, several executives have spoken about their hopes of finding synergies that will take advantage of a combined audience. WWE president Nick Khan appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast to talk up the opportunities for “an all-star TKO weekend” where a WWE SmackDown, premium live event and UFC pay-per-view could all take place in the same city.
UFC senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein took the hype a step further, telling ESPN that the ultimate goal is “where every UFC fan is a WWE fan and every WWE fan is a UFC fan.”
Sounds great, right? But White isn’t so sure that will ever happen.
“I don’t even know what to say to that.” White said to MMA Junkie and other media following Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night in Las Vegas. “No, there’s no – there’s some crossover. Some people like WWE, some people like UFC, some like both. I don’t think there’s ever gonna be a day where we turn every UFC fan into a WWE fan or every WWE fan into a UFC fan.”
WWE made a big change to its premium live event strategy over the past 15 months, running most of its arena and stadium shows on Saturday nights instead of Sunday — which has put them directly up against UFC PPVs. At least on the WWE side of things, that hasn’t seemed to affect viewership at all, with the promotion currently on a hot streak of record-breaking premium live event numbers.
That suggests that White is correct, and that the potential audience of people torn between watching two shows on the same night is small. But he also said he thinks that can be a strength for TKO in its own way.
“What’s beautiful about the synergy between these two fanbases is they are very completely opposite. There’s very little crossover.”
[lawrence-related id=36043]