$11.3 Billion valued UFC breezes past WWE, AEW, and other combat sports competitors

A look at the valuation and impact of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

$11.3 Billion valued UFC breezes past WWE, AEW, and other combat sports competitors

Dana White's UFC tops the Forbes list (Image via: IMAGO)

UFC is the premier MMA promotion in the world. No other MMA promotion has become closer to achieving the level of fame and popularity the UFC has attained. The promotion achieved never-before-seen stardom since Dana White and the Fertitta brothers, Frank and Lorenzo, bought the UFC. Now, the promotion has become the highest-valued combat sports promotion in the world, ahead of the promotions in professional wrestling and boxing.

In the Forbes’ list of The Most Valuable Combat Sports Promotions 2024, the UFC bagged the first place with an estimated valuation of $11.3 billion. The promotion’s valuation is almost twice that of WWE, which has a valuation of $6.8 billion. What’s impressive is that UFC and WWE are under a single entity, TKO. Therefore, together they have an $18 billion valuation, which is mindboggling. For context, the valuation of promotion ranked 3 to 10 is a little less than $7 billion. AEW, at 3, has a $2 billion valuation.

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Even though the UFC has a bigger valuation than WWE, the latter made $1.33 billion in revenue in 2023, slightly bigger than the $1.29 billion made by the UFC. All the other promotions in the top 10 combined made a little over $900 million. AEW, at 3, made $250 million. Despite the big valuation and revenues, none of their top stars made the kind of money the boxers made.

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The Forbes’ 2023 list of The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes had two boxers – Canelo Alvarez at number 5 and Anthony Johsua at number 28. The list, dominated by soccer players, golfers, and superstars from the major sports leagues in the USA, did not have a single MMA fighter. Conor McGregor‘s inactivity could be a reason for it.

Top Draws for the UFC in 2023

The UFC made $1.29 billion in revenue in 2023 and Forbes revealed the top draws of the promotion to be Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya, and Sean O’Malley. Interestingly, the trio represents three different eras in the UFC. Jones, the youngest UFC champion in history, returned after a long hiatus and became the heavyweight champion at UFC 285. It is the only time he fought inside the octagon, as an injury ruled him out of his scheduled fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295.

Israel Adesanya, Jon Jones, and Sean O'Malley are the top draws for WWE
Israel Adesanya, Jon Jones, and Sean O’Malley are the top draws for WWE (Image via: IMAGO)

Adesanya, the most active champion during his title reign, was a global star for the promotion. In the absence of Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, the Kiwi headlined the majority of the PPVs for the promotion. In 2023, he fought twice. First, he reclaimed the undisputed middleweight title from Alex Pereira at UFC 287 via brutal knockout. However, he lost the title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293. Adesanya is also one of the highest-paid athletes on the UFC roster, with only McGregor and Jones possibly above him.

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Sean O’Malley is the rising superstar in the UFC. O’Malley represents the new era of MMA fighters and only fought once in 2023. When he won the bantamweight title at UFC 292, he was the only champion in his 20s. Alexa Grasso was 29 when she won the title at UFC 285 but turned 30 days before UFC 292. Dana White has already acknowledged that O’Malley was a star even before he became the champion. Since Jones’ would only fight a couple more times and Adesanya had to face unfavorable matchups, the onus is on O’Malley to hold the mantle for the UFC.

However, in 2024, the UFC crowned new champions in its first two PPVs – Dricus Du Plessis and Ilia Topuria. Both fighters are the first to become champions from their respective nations. Du Plessis is a big star in South Africa, and Topuria represents two nations: Georgia and Spain. As such, ‘El Matador’ has become a sensation in Europe. Therefore, it is very likely that the UFC will make a big splash in 2024 with new markets opening for them.

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