The COVID-19 pandemic crippled many businesses with many movie theater chains fearing bankruptcy and restaurants across the globe shutting down and never opening back up again. But it turns out the pandemic may be the single greatest factor in the UFC’s recent success.
Over the past few years, the UFC has enjoyed massive gains financially with revenues skyrocketing year after year. While media rights such as the UFC’s deal with ESPN is still the biggest factor when it comes to overall financial gains, the promotion has seen a huge explosion in overall ticket sales and sponsorship deals unlike anything that’s ever been seen before.
While there are a variety of factors that have played a hand in the UFC’s success, the global pandemic may have been the biggest single reason why the promotion is bigger and more popular than ever now.
“Going through COVID definitely didn’t hurt us,” UFC CEO Dana White told Bloomberg recently. “There were no sports on TV except for us.
“Fights that should have been doing 300,000 buys were doing a million. Our fan base grew something like 68 percent during COVID.”
Dana White reveals just how much the COVID pandemic benefitted the UFC’s business - MMA Fighting
