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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

TKO Group Holdings — the combined company with UFC and WWE — has acquired new assets from Endeavor in an all-stock deal worth $ 3.25 billion.

Terms of the deal were announced on Thursday with TKO acquiring Professional Bull Riders, the event planning and hospitality service On Location as well as IMG, a sports and media agency, producer and distributor previously housed at Endeavor.

Under the terms of the deal, Endeavor “will receive approximately 26.14 million common” shares of TKO stock and “will subscribe for an equal number of shares of TKO’s Class B common stock.”

Once the deal closes, Endeavor will own 59-percent of TKO with remaining shareholders controlling the other 41-percent of TKO stock.

“PBR, On Location, and IMG are industry-leading assets that meaningfully enhance TKO’s portfolio and strengthen our position in premium sports globally,” TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro said in a press release. “Within TKO, they will help power the growth of our revenue streams and position us to capture even more upside from some of the most attractive parts of our sports ecosystem: media rights, live events, ticket sales, premium experiences, brand partnerships, and site fees.

“These assets are already built into our business strategy at TKO and will serve to further enhance our strong track record of execution across UFC and WWE.”

The deal comes as Endeavor is preparing to go private after spending the past three years as a publicly traded company. Silver Lake, a private equity firm, is funding the privatization at an approximate cost of $ 13 billion.

Obviously, Endeavor remains the primary shareholder in TKO, which is still a publicly traded company with UFC and WWE now being joined by these new assets in the combined company.

Since UFC and WWE merged under TKO Group Holdings, the company has flourished with stock prices continuing to rise in 2024. The UFC has continued to report record revenues year after year since being acquired by Endeavor back in 2016.

UFC is expected to give TKO another jolt in 2025 when the promotion negotiates a new broadcast rights deal, which is expected to be worth several billion over the next few years. The UFC’s current deal remains exclusive with ESPN through the end of 2025.

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Nearly cut
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Power Slap Super Heavyweight champion “Da Crazy Hawaiian” took on the man who got UFC CEO Dana White into this crazy sporting event, “Russian Dumpling,” at Power Slap 9 today (Thurs. Oct. 24, 2024) from inside Space42 Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Da Crazy Hawaiian slapped first and seemed to wobble Dumpling. The Russian slapped second, but Da Crazy Hawaiian flinched, causing a point deduction, allowing Dumpling to slap again.

In the second round, both men ate their respective slaps. Another foul occurred in the third round, as Da Crazy Hawaiian flinched yet again, causing Dumpling to slap him twice.

Nothing significant happened in the fourth round, but in the final round, Da Crazy Hawaiian had his best shot of the fight and seemed to really hurt his Russian opponent. Dumpling slapped last in the bout but it was pretty weak.

While it seemed that Dumpling would become the new titleholder because of the champion’s two fouls, the judges saw it differently and scored the fight a majority draw (48-46, 47-47, 47-47).

After the fight, Dumpling simply told the post-fight interviewer, “this sucks.”

Watch highlights below:

For full results of Power Slap 9, including Paige VanZant’s second Power Slap outing, click HERE.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Paige VanZant wasn’t happy with the result in her latest slap fighting match but she takes responsibility for the foul that ultimately led to her draw against Chelsea Dodson on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.

The former UFC fighter and BKFC veteran landed an illegal blow in the second round of her sophomore match in Power Slap, which cost her a point and ultimately the decision. It was VanZant’s second strike thrown when she was penalized for “clubbing” after connecting more of her wrist and arm than the hand, which actually opened a small cut on Dodson’s face.

As a result, VanZant lost a point and without a knockout or knockdown to help even the score in the final round, she could only earn a draw.

“Well guys, Power Slap is over,” VanZant said on her Instagram. “Went home with the draw. I accidentally clubbed. That was my fault. Still learning. I was a little bit too close on one of my shots. Just got to get my distance right for the next one. Power Slap, you’re going to see me again.”

The match, which ended with 28-28 scores across the board, was VanZant’s second appearance in the Dana White owned promotion after she debuted there back in June. On that night, VanZant earned a unanimous decision win after she ate all three shots from her opponent and actually delivered a brutal knockdown along the way.

VanZant later stated that Power Slap was supposed to be a “bucket list” item to check off for her combat sports career but she enjoyed it so much that she booked a second match ahead of UFC 308 weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Despite the disappointing result, VanZant has now vowed to return with hopes to return to the win column in her next appearance.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Paige VanZant didn’t get the result she wanted in her second appearance in Power Slap after the UFC and BKFC veteran was penalized for an illegal blow in the second round in her match against Chelsea Dodson.

The 30-year-old combat sports star, who made her slap fighting debut back in June with a unanimous decision win, ended up going to a draw with Dodson — wife to former UFC title contender John Dodson — after she was deducted a point for “clubbing,” which is defined as “any strike other than a permitted slap to the permitted target area.”

In this case, VanZant delivered a shot where more of her arm connected with Dodson’s face than her hand, which resulted in a penalty being assessed.

The one-point deduction put VanZant in a tough position to either deliver a knockdown or a knockout in order to win the bout in the third round. Neither of those things happened, although VanZant did win both the first and third rounds on the scorecards.

Unfortunately the point deduction in the second round cost VanZant the match after both she and Dodson stayed standing following each blow delivered during the match. The final tally was 28-28 across all three scorecards with the bout declared a draw.

VanZant didn’t speak directly after the match, although she said after her Power Slap debut in June that she definitely planned on competing there again in the future.

“Kind of going into it was like, ‘I only have to do this one time, a bucket list thing, I want to go do Power Slap, prove that I can,’” VanZant told MMA Fighting in July after her debut. “But then afterward it was like, ‘Shoot, that was really fun.’”

It remains to be seen if Thursday’s match could lead to another VanZant appearance in Power Slap.

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