For years, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been working to tap into China’s vast pool of fighting talent. Now, those efforts are starting to pay off with a vengeance.
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Finances: UFC’s revenues and earnings drive Endeavor IPO
New reports by Moody’s and Endeavor give us some details about the UFC’s finances
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A new Moody’s Credit Opinion was released on May 5. This, along with the March 31 S-1 Investment Prospectus (and the updated April 26 S-1/A) give us some details regarding how the UFC did financially last year. (Spoiler: they did great.)
According to Moody’s “UFC’s revenues for 2020 were well over $800 million.” Elsewhere it is listed as $0.9 USD Billion. A graph included in the report showed the following approximate amounts:
2016: $690 million
2020: $890 million
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The UFC sees extraordinary opportunity in China, the world’s largest economy. The immediate hopes at present lie in no small part on women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili. But the league built a second Performance Institute in Shanghai to grow to sport in China. The first fighter to “graduate” from there and earn a UFC contract is Alateng “The Mongolian Knight” Heili, who debuted at UFC on ESPN+ 15 on August 31, 2019, and is currently 2-1 in the big show.
“We’re so proud to see Aori Qileng and Na Liang graduate from our program and wish them all the best as they continue their journey into the UFC,” said Kevin Chang, the UFC’s APAC senior vice-president, to Nick Atkin for SCMP. “The hard work, sacrifice, and dedication our athletes put into improving themselves is tremendous.”