This week’s MMA Draw podcast is one of our best shows to date. We promise.
UFC got their multi-billion dollar monopoly on MMA. Dana White got his tombstone of dead promotions.
WWE has their (growing) monopoly on professional wrestling. There’s lots of promotions but only one is sucking up cash like a vacuum cleaner.
Zuffa Boxing, through sheer process power derived from TKO’s multi-monopoly, is ready to grind boxing into a paste through regulatory capture and a war of promotional attrition.
This week’s edition of The MMA Draw podcast has an in-depth look on the impact for fans and fighters regarding how major mergers & acquisitions will shape the fight business in 2026. In this game of musical chairs, someone’s going to be a big loser.
Target number one for the fight monopolists is Tony Khan. Regrettably for him, TKO has some support from some of the most richest power brokers in the sports world — Tony’s own fellow NFL club owners.
16 months after wearing a neck brace for the 2024 NFL Draft and going on NFL Network to call WWE the “Harvey Weinstein of professional wrestling”, the NFL Network and its assets are headed to ESPN. The NFL will get a 10% equity stake in ESPN.
Coincidentally, ESPN just signed a major media rights deal for WWE programming. The other 31 NFL clubs are actively promoting WWE merchandise and WWE wrestlers, not AEW assets.
With the NFL having equity stakes in both ESPN and Paramount, it also means that Ari Emanuel’s TKO is doing business directly and indirectly with the NFL. It’s a Big Club and you’re not in it.
What UFC did to MMA is what WWE is finalizing with professional wrestling but with a twist. UFC is the only game in town. WWE’s market strategy under TKO is to promote as many different flavored brands as possible (via Joint Ventures) to grab as many media rights deals as possible.
And now the specter of Paramount playing Let’s Make a Deal with Warner Brothers Discovery is looming. Which would be absolutely terrible news for Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling.
A combination of the python strategy to choke out any potential entry into the space while also depriving current entrants of oxygen. If you can’t grab headlines and have to spend more money to accomplish less results, you are toast. Even if you’re a billionaire.
History tells us that the only way monstrous monopolies like this collapse is from within. Ari Emanuel & Mark Shapiro are getting very frisky right now.
Our track record in 2025 has been amazing for accurately reading and reacting to the political and business climate in fight sports. The MMA Draw reported in June that ESPN wanted WWE rights. Disney got those rights in a shocking fashion. We’ve been ahead of the curve on all the gossip about PBC and UFC negotiations.
Most importantly, we’ve dominated the Paramount-UFC beat for the entire calendar year by focusing on the high-stakes political lobbying with The White House and how Ari Emanuel flexed his muscle as one of America’s most powerful fixers.
If you aren’t a paid subscriber yet, now is your chance to give us a try and find out why all the major heavyweights in combat sports read The MMA Draw. Join our family today.
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Zach Arnold is the lead opinion writer for The MMA Draw Newsletter on Substack. You can e-mail him at fightopinion - at - protonmail dot com.
Nate Wilcox founded Bloody Elbow in 2007 and sold it in 2024.
