{"id":466194,"date":"2022-12-23T10:42:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T18:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=466194"},"modified":"2022-12-23T10:42:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T18:42:48","slug":"dana-white-explains-how-a-cocaine-scandal-led-to-the-ufcs-billion-dollar-deal-with-espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-explains-how-a-cocaine-scandal-led-to-the-ufcs-billion-dollar-deal-with-espn\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White explains how a cocaine scandal led to the UFC\u2019s billion dollar deal with ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dana White is explaining how a cocaine scandal led to the UFC’s billion dollar deal with ESPN.<\/p>\n

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars for its owners and investors.<\/p>\n

In order to do that, they have to pair up with a major broadcast company.<\/p>\n

When the UFC’s deal with FOX was coming to a close, it was time to re-evaluate and make a new deal.<\/p>\n

White is now sharing how it came to be that ESPN picked up the UFC.<\/p>\n

It was during an interview with Grant Cardone that UFC President Dana White told the story (h\/t MMAMania<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you a crazy story. You ever hear of John Skipper? John Skipper ran ESPN. Now, I think he runs DAZN. Runs ESPN, beloved, looks like the squarest dude on the planet. Older guy. Hates UFC. Hates it. Hates UFC. Big soccer guy. For whatever reason, people like different things. And I\u2019m not s***ing on John Skipper. But this is a fact, this happened and this is a true story.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Continuing White explained:<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Skipper, beloved at ESPN, ESPN\u2019s at the top of their game. These guys are killing it in revenue, they\u2019re getting $5 per subscriber when cable was the biggest it\u2019s ever been. So, our FOX deal is up and we\u2019re probably not gonna do another deal with FOX. They\u2019re selling off cable networks and re-structuring. So they\u2019re not the same company when we signed with them. And John Skipper\u2019s never, ever gonna take the UFC. So, we\u2019re in a real tough place.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Dana White spoke about John Skipper stepping down from ESPN:<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Skipper\u2019s cocaine dealer is gonna rat him out. So he has to tell Disney<\/a> \u2018My cocaine dealer is gonna go public\u2019 or whatever, so he has to step down from ESPN, right at the time we\u2019re trying to make a new TV deal. Who do they make president? Jimmy Pitaro, who ran Yahoo! Sports for years. I\u2019ve known him a long time. He\u2019s a great dude, and he loves the UFC. Now you got him, you got a guy named Kevin Mayer, who is really close to (Endeavor CEO) Ari (Emanuel), and we ended up doing the ESPN deal when our deal was up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo you want to talk about timing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

John Skipper’s resignation from ESPN was confirmed by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ back in 2018.<\/p>\n

It was that same year that the UFC and ESPN brokered a five-year, $1.5 billion broadcast deal commencing on Jan. 1, 2019.<\/p>\n

So there you have it, had it not been for cocaine and the blackmail of a non-supporter of the UFC having to step down – there would not have been an ESPN contract. Timing is everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dana White is explaining how a cocaine scandal led to the UFC’s billion dollar deal with ESPN. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars for its owners and investors. In order to do that, they have to pair up with a major broadcast company. 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