In a jaw-dropping deal, a sport once denounced by John McCain as “human cockfighting” has just been valued at $4 billion. That’s how much a consortium of investors led by Hollywood talent agency powerhouse WME-IMG just paid for mixed martial arts league Ultimate Fighting Championship. (Other investors in the deal include Silver Lake, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and billionaire Michael S. Dell’s investment fund.)
From spectacular live events to new forms of content, WME-IMG plans on taking the “niche” out of Ultimate Fighting Championship.
For some quick context, that’s about how much Comcast recently paid for DreamWorks Animation, and what Disney plunked down for Lucasfilm back in 2012—a purchase that was then declared the “deal of the century.”
