WWE employees told UFC merger will be finalized next week

Say hello to TKO: The new, combined company made up of WWE and UFC will become official on Sept. 12.

The arrival of TKO Group Holdings, which will combine WWE and UFC into one publicly-traded company, is expected to be completed next week.

Deadline reported that the much anticipated merger of the global leaders in pro wrestling and MMA was expected to close on Tuesday, Sept. 12. Endeavor, which already owns UFC and will be the parent company of the new, combined entity, has previously stated it expected the deal to be closed sometime in the second half of this month.

Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer said WWE employees had also been informed that the closing date would be Sept. 12.

The WWE-UFC merger was first announced in April following a period of several months where it was clear that WWE was exploring a potential acquisition — a search that brought Vince McMahon back from a brief retirement to spearhead those efforts.

The broad strokes of how the new company will operate laid out right away; on the wrestling side, Vince McMahon will be the executive chairman “until death, resignation or incapacity,” with current WWE CEO Nick Khan remaining in his role as well. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will also be CEO of TKO, with UFC president Dana White continuing to run the MMA business as he sees fit.

While the finalization of the deal is likely to be celebrated in corporate circles, it’s likely to be the cause of some consternation among the WWE rank-and-file. Khan has gone on the record as saying he expects some “pretty aggressive” cuts as WWE and UFC determine how best to integrate, with the expectation that there could be a number of layoffs as TKO consolidates some areas of overlapping responsibilities.