Saudi Arabia Must Poach Dana White From UFC To Establish PFL: Bobby Burack

Shares for Endeavor and WWE fell Thursday following a $100 million investment from Saudi Arabia into the Professional Fighters League (PFL), an upstart mixed martial arts organization.

Endeavor is in the process of forming a sports and entertainment company called TKO Group that consists of WWE and UFC. Thus, the market's response to Saudi investment.

The reaction suggests a belief that PFL can challenge UFC, the pre-eminent MMA brand worldwide.

Already, Saudi Arabia proved it could hinder U.S. sports leagues with the creation of LIV Golf. LIV poached prominent PGA golfers like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson with above-market contracts.

The success of LIV prompted PGA to agree to merge with the Saudi-backed circuit earlier this year.

Stockholders think fighters, like golfers, will sign with a smaller brand for more money.

Fighters are mercenaries. There will be some, if not many who choose PFL if the offer is higher.

However, the value per fighter is less than the value per golfer.

UFC is not where it was 5-10 years ago, when dependent on the likes of Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor.

Rousey is retired. McGregor and Jones are mostly inactive. And few current fighters transcend beyond MMA.

Yet UFC is more successful and popular than ever.

UFC succeeds without individual star power. Fight fans, casual and passionate, purchase UFC pay-per-views each month no matter the card.

The three letters and promotions drive the interest. UFC is not beholden to marquee names the way boxing is. UFC doesn't need Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence to sell tickets and pay-per-views.

It has Dana White.

A roster full of big-name fighters would position PFL to challenge UFC. To challenge UFC, PFL would need to poach Dana White.

White would listen to the offer from Saudi Arabia. Of course, he would.

White is an employee of Endeavor. He no longer owns a stake in UFC. He is signed to a contract that allows him to re-negotiate or depart after each expiration date. White's contract is up in about 2 years.

Fighters are mercenaries. Dana White is a businessman.

Saudi Arabia could offer him more money than Endeavor. A lot more. And if its MMA aspirations are serious, it will.

Dana White is the face of MMA. He's the only mainstream name associated with the sport.

UFC fight weeks consist more of clips and quotes from White than the fighters themselves. Fans trust White to book cards worth their while, no matter how obscure the matchup.

There is no better hype-man in sports than White. He's Vince McMahon in the 1990s but without Stone Cold Steve Austin to complement him.

White has also captivated a following in red America, the demographic LIV Golf most aggressively targeted.

His appeal to conservative sports fans is not insignificant. UFC is the only professional sports league that leans right.

Dana didn't close down UFC during the pandemic for optics. Instead, he created a fight island and booked Miocic vs. Cormier 3.

He recently sat front row with Donald Trump and Kid Rock at a fight, unconcerned with how media writers would respond.

Conservative sports fans are more loyal to White than UFC. As SiriusXM Patriot host Stacy Washington told me this month, conservatives will follow White wherever he goes.

And it's not just right-wingers who support him.

Fans appreciate White's authenticity, knowing he caters to them and not his critics -- unlike almost every other leader in sports.

White doesn't pretend to care about faux "racial tensions" to appease the easily offended.

Dana White is more important to the future of UFC than any one figure is to their respective sport.

Endeavor understands that. That is why it didn't suspend White following an incident in January when he and his wife shoved each other on video.

The company feared it would lose ticket sales, promotion, and revenue even for a few weeks without Dana.

“Me leaving hurts the company. Hurts my employees. Hurts the fighters. Doesn’t hurt me," White said addressing the reporter asking why he wasn't suspended.

"Here’s my punishment: I have to walk around for however long I live, and this is how I’m labeled now. My other punishment is that I’m sure a lot of people—whether it be media, fighters, friends, acquaintances—who had respect for me might not have respect for me now. There’s a lot of things I have to deal with the rest of my life that’s way more of a punishment than, what, I take a 30-day or 60-day absence?”

The UFC isn't dependent on fighters like the PGA is on golfers. Rather, the fighters are dependent on Dana White.

As long as White is in charge of UFC, PFL is more likely to compete with Bellator -- a second-tier, financially struggling MMA promotion.

For now, chalk up Thursday's response from Wall Street as an overreaction.