Unbelievably, UFC’s non-stop marketing campaign of poverty promotion & “keep them hungry!” fighter pay practices has exacerbated the public relations problem with their latest gambling scandal.
We all know from recent NBA & MLB arrests that athletes making millions of dollars are being accused of fixing or rigging games for prop bets. Yet, it’s easier for the general public to rationalize an APEX-level UFC fighter, perhaps throwing a fight because of their financial circumstances.
Which means Dana White, the guy The Hollywood Reporter recently highlighted as the most untouchable whale in Las Vegas, is probably not the best person to handle public relations for a UFC gambling scandal.
Mark Shapiro, Ari Emanuel’s top lieutenant, suddenly hates seeing gambling talk on ESPN despite hyping up the value of gambling being connected to everything UFC-related during a CNBC interview last year.
This week’s edition of The MMA Draw podcast looks at how UFC is currently positioned vis-à-vis sports gambling and how sloppy of a shop they are. The UFC front office can run, but they can’t hide from not having a coherent policy for fight integrity after the James Krause scandal three years removed.
There are lots of excuses being floated by UFC’s most aggressive defenders online, but UFC’s own affirmative defenses in interviews this past week paint a really ugly picture. Nate Wilcox & Zach Arnold break down everything you need to know and how gambling fits into UFC’s upcoming campaign with Paramount.
For our paid subscribers, we have an extensive breakdown about ESPN’s no-good, very bad week between the ESPN Bet debacle and the ongoing fight with YouTube TV that the Mouse is struggling with on both a business and public relations front.
With WWE ratings declining for SmackDown and plateauing for RAW on Netflix, TKO needs to score big with Paramount by bringing in millions of subscribers. Can they pull this off? Plus, how much of UFC’s current media rights valuation is tied directly to gambling? What if the bottom falls out of how much the public is gambling on fights because of a shaky economic situation? These are some very ugly questions right now that should be asked before it gets too late.
When it comes to journalism, opinion, and analysis on combat sports, The MMA Draw is the place to be. You get what you pay for. Your money goes directly to help support our research and content generation. Our coverage last week of the Isaac Dulgarian UFC situation is a perfect example of what we can do with the right amount of resources.
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Nate Wilcox is Editor-in-Chief of The MMA Draw. He founded BloodyElbow.com in 2007 and sold it in 2024.
Zach Arnold is a lead opinion writer for The MMA Draw on Substack. His archives can be read at FightOpinion.com.
