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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC experienced a rare decrease in revenue for the third quarter in 2024 but TKO Group Holdings as a whole still earned a profit with a massive year ahead in 2025.

New financial disclosures were released on Wednesday with the UFC revenue dropping 11 percent — $ 42.6 million to $ 354.9 million — primarily due to one less pay-per-view and two less Fight Night events compared to the same time period in 2023. The revenue loss from media rights was $ 50.4 million but that was partially offset by an increase in sponsorship revenue, which was up $ 10.2 million.

Despite holding three fewer events during the third quarter in 2024 compared to 2024, the UFC still stayed almost dead even when it came to live event revenue due to an increase in overall ticket sales year over year.

While the UFC reported a loss in revenue for the quarter, TKO Group Holdings — the parent company for UFC and WWE — still increased overall revenue by 52 percent — $ 232.1 million to $ 681.2 million. That increase was thanks to WWE with $ 242.7 million in revenue.

“TKO’s solid third quarter results reflect continued strength across UFC and WWE, particularly in live events and brand partnerships,” TKO CEO Ari Emanuel said in a press release along with the financial results. “In light of this continued momentum, we now expect to deliver at the upper end of our full-year 2024 guidance range for both revenue and Adjusted EBITDA.

“Additionally, two weeks ago we announced the authorization of a robust capital return program and an agreement to acquire industry-leading sports assets that will power our profile, give us greater scale, strengthen our position in the sports marketplace, and accelerate returns for shareholders. Just over a year since UFC and WWE came together to form TKO, our conviction in this business is as strong as ever.”

The latest financial disclosure also noted the conclusion of one of two UFC antitrust lawsuits after a settlement was reached and preliminary approval was handed down by the courts. Under terms of the agreement, TKO is set to pay out $ 375 million to settle the first of the lawsuits with a $ 125 million payment already put into escrow in October with the remaining $ 250 million expected to be paid in 2025.

A second antitrust lawsuit against the UFC is still pending.

The next year is expected to be huge for TKO with WWE kicking off a massive 10 year, $ 5 billion deal to move its flagship series Monday Night Raw to Netflix while Smackdown goes to USA Network. WWE’s other program titled NXT already began airing on the CW in a separate deal that was previously closed.

Meanwhile, the UFC is expected to begin negotiations on a new TV deal in early 2025 as the current contract with ESPN comes to a close at the end of next year. Most experts believe the UFC is in for a huge increase in overall media rights, especially with the MMA promotion as the only major sports property up for grabs for potential TV or streaming partners for the next three years.

It’s possible that the UFC potentially triples its broadcast rights deal from the one struck with ESPN that was initially worth $ 1.5 billion over five years (an additional two years was eventually added along with ESPN taking over pay-per-view broadcasts for the UFC).

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Warning
| BJPenn.com

Lennox Lewis knows a thing or two about Mike Tyson.

“The Lion” roared past “Iron” when they went head-to-head for the IBF, IBO, and WBC heavyweight titles back in June of 2002, stopping Tyson in the eighth round and solidifying his place as one of the greatest heavyweight pugilists in history.

But he still thinks Tyson has the chops to beat Jake Paul, even at age 58.

“It’s hard to box when you’re that old, moving around the ring, throwing punches, getting punches thrown at you,” Lewis told Sky Sports. “But I think he can handle it. I was thinking that Jake Paul was going to be in trouble because Mike Tyson knows how to throw great body punches, great head shots. We just have to see if he’s going to do them in the ring. I’m hoping he’ll do that. I’ll be there, and it’s going to be exciting.”

Tyson battles Paul atop a special Netflix boxing event on Fri., Nov. 15, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the biggest fight — and biggest payday — of “El Gallo’s” career. That sort of early exposure can be considered both good and bad, according to Lewis.

“It’s good and it’s bad,” Lewis explained. “A lot of boxers that are out there training hard and working and trying to get a shot at the championship don’t get a chance. All of a sudden, a YouTuber comes along and gets all the excitement, all the praise and the money. So, in that way, it’s not fair.”

Elsewhere on the Netflix card, Katie Taylor rematches Amanda Serrano with the super lightweight title up for grabs. In addition, Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos go 12 rounds for the WBC welterweight strap, not long after Neeraj Goyat battles Whindersson Nunes.

For the finalized “Paul vs. Tyson” fight card and Netflix lineup click here.

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Jon Jones is ready for UFC 309 and his first heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic.

Jones and Miocic headline next weekend’s pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “Bones” makes his first walk to the octagon since winning the heavyweight title at with a first-round submission of former interim champ Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023, and just his second outing in nearly five years.

Ahead of the matchup, Jones released new training footage as he gets set to face Miocic. Check out the video below, courtesy of Jones’ Instagram page.

During this training camp, Jones has been training with the likes of jiu-jitsu whiz Gordon Ryan, as well as Olympic gold medalist and ex-WWE superstar Gable Steveson. The 37-year-old has continuously teased that this could be his final fight, although UFC CEO Dana White feels that if Jones is victorious, he could face current interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall in a unification bout.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Cody Garbrandt and Miles Johns should hope the third time is a charm if they’re ever going to fight.

MMA Fighting confirmed with sources with knowledge of the change that Garbrandt has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bantamweight bout against Johns, which was to take place at UFC Vegas 100 this Saturday. The news was first reported by BJPENN.com.

It is the second time Garbrandt and Johns have been booked to fight and seen their date fall through. The two were expected to fight at UFC Vegas 98 this past October, but the bout was moved to Nov. 9 for undisclosed reasons.

Officials are searching for a new opponent to face Johns on Saturday. It is not yet known if they will attempt to schedule Garbrandt vs. Johns again in the future.

Garbrandt competed once in 2024, losing to Deiveson Figueiredo via submission at UFC 300 this past April. For Johns, he looks to keep a win streak going after defeating his past three opponents (excluding one no-contest).

Damon Martin contributed to this report.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Donald Trump will become the 47th U.S. president after defeating Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election Wednesday morning.

UFC President Dana White was at Trump’s victory celebration overnight at Mar-a-Lago and spoke to the crowd about his good friend heading to the Oval Office again.

Here’s how the pros reacted to Donald Trump winning again:

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