On September 12, WWE and UFC officially merged to become the publicly traded company TKO. The two companies will continue to operate as separate entities.
With both companies falling under the Endeavor umbrella, WWE and UFC could have crossover when it comes to major event weekends.
"The conversations are just beginning now. Everybody wanted to make sure that we got all the regulatory approvals in place. Department of Justice approval, SEC approval, a couple of international approvals that we needed and obviously, we got all of those. The conversations are happening now. Yes, what everyone envisions is, can you set up an all-star TKO weekend where SmackDown goes on Friday, UFC on Saturday with pay-per-view, and WWE goes with a premium live event on Sunday. Can you do that from the same city? Certainly, a lot of cost efficiencies there in terms of production, but a lot of revenue efficiencies in terms of upside there as well," Nick Khan told Bill Simmons on the Bill Simmons podcast when asked about WWE and UFC running on the same weekend.
Khan continued by saying, "Certainly, the fighters and WWE superstars stay separate. Could you have a Ronda Rousey or Brock Lesnar come along who can cross from one to the other? Sure, but that's a once-in-a-decade type of thing. In terms of production, [UFC Exec VP/Operations & Production] Craig Borsari and [WWE Line Producer] Kevin Dunn, they've had a number of conversations on those efficiencies, how it might look, how it might work. Hopefully, we have some news on that in a couple of months."
Khan noted that WWE and UFC would stay away from each other during their tentpole events, saying they wouldn't want UFC running during WrestleMania weekend and WWE wouldn't run for big UFC shows such as their Madison Square Garden events in November.
"Ideally, what we like, especially if you look at the international expansion of WWE's premium live events and UFC's already expansion, you could see a lot of events of 'WWE is going at 3pm eastern from an international location, UFC is going at 8 eastern domestically,' or the opposite of that. We like that too because you have two gates, two merchandise, in theory, if you get a government subsidy for the international or domestic show, you have that and boom, both events are right there. By planning in advance, I don't believe we'll trip over each other in any way," said Khan.
While making the media after the merger became official, Khan noted how UFC fighters could extend their entertainment life after their Octagon career is over. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
Elsewhere during the interview, Khan commented on Stephanie McMahon stepping away from WWE. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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