Vince McMahon’s son, Shane McMahon once tried taking over the UFC in a desperate move to save WWE

Vince McMahon’s son, Shane McMahon once tried taking over the UFC in a desperate move to save WWE

Shane McMahon (L) and Dana White (R) {Image Source (L) - WWE and (R) -Bleacher Report]

There is a lot of crossing over between professional wrestling fans and mixed martial arts fans – more often than not, MMA fans are people who grew up watching WWE fights.

That being said, it will surprise many fans to know how just close the two brands are to each other – and by that, there is no emotional proximity being talked about here. WWE has been a household name for decades now, and in its heyday, it once unsuccessfully tried to acquire the UFC, which was struggling to raise the funds it needed.

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The details of this proposed acquisition were revealed by Bruce Pritchard, best known as “Brother Love”, back in the WWE in the early ‘90s. Speaking about this on the “Something to Wrestle With” podcast, he said, “Bob Meyrowitz was putting UFC out there in wanting to sell and also looking at ways to change… So, I know that Shane was definitely interested in buying the UFC.”

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He continued, “They weren’t asking for a lot, but it was more than Vince was willing to pay at the time. “ The deal, brought to his father by Shane McMahon, fell apart, and despite it gasping for breath, the UFC did in fact pull through with the help of the Fertitta brothers, and the rest is history.

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Bruce Pritchard thinks the McMahons couldn’t have emulated the success that the Fertitta brothers brought to the UFC

Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White co-owned the UFC before its sale in 2016 (L-R) [Image Source - Bloody Elbow]
Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White co-owned the UFC before its sale in 2016 (L-R) [Image Source – Bloody Elbow]

It is only after 2004 that the UFC really started to pick up pace. Fighting its dark shadows of being called “barbaric”, the promotion managed to find a place in the public image in no small part thanks to fighters over the years, like Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, Conor McGregor and Israel Adesanya; and also being helmed by a sound promoter in Dana White.

And, Pritchard believes that the success brought by the Fertitta brothers‘ backing would have been hard to replicate if the WWE brass had acquired the promotion. He said, “The overhaul on the UFC that the Fertitta [brothers] were able to pull off, and Dana White with the overhaul with the rules and the presentation and everything else, was the best thing that could have happened to them.” The overarching humongous success of the UFC made its owners, the Fertitta brothers and Dana White sell the brand to the Endeavour Group in 2016, for a whopping $4 billion.

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He continued, “I don’t know that we as a company could have overcome the stigma of WWE owning UFC and been able to make all the changes that UFC needed to make.” Bruce Pritchard couldn’t have put the facts more succinctly – the UFC, as an organization was destined to fail. However, through good financial maneuvering and the influx of the right stars, the organization lived on and is possibly more respected than the WWE now.

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