Was the Paramount/UFC deal done a month before TKO announced it?

A very strange lawsuit against Paramount President Jeff Shell claims it was.

Are we witnessing Anthony Pellicano, Part Deux?

Funny enough, self-proclaimed Hollywood ideas man and public relations fixer RJ Cipriani mentioned Mr. Pellicano’s name in his most recent lawsuit against current Paramount President Jeff Shell.

It’s a very strange lawsuit by Mr. Cipriani, who essentially claims that he was helping Mr. Shell out with damage control in the Hollywood trades over various matters.

Mr. Cipriani claimed that he gave Mr. Shell certain ideas that Shell didn’t act on, thereby costing Cipriani money. The lawsuit makes various allegations regarding public relations on Paramount’s $1.5B deal with South Park. Ari Emanuel’s WME Group reportedly represented South Park in negotiations.

In an unrelated claim, Mr. Cipirani also included in his lawsuit pleading text messages he sent to Ari Emanuel… in 2019. Not only that, his attorney Steven J. Aaronoff didn’t redact Ari’s phone number in the court Exhibits.

The laundry list of Causes of Actions in Mr. Cipriani’s lawsuit includes fraud, breach of oral contract, and, yes, intentional infliction of emotional distress.

But that’s not why you — or I — care about this lawsuit.

We care about this lawsuit because Mr. Cipriani claims that Mr. Shell, who was brought on board at Paramount by Redbird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale, allegedly leaked WhatsApp messages claiming that the $7.7B deal between Paramount and UFC was done… in mid-July 2025.

We’re talking about weeks before it was announced by TKO, and right after Skydance officially closed its transaction with Paramount.

Why is this July 2025 claim about Paramount signing a UFC deal important?

First, Mr. Cipirani claims that Mr. Shell leaked very important information about multiple publicly traded companies before it was announced to public investors.

Why would Paramount or TKO embargo an announcement on the new UFC media rights deal?

Second, did Wall Street insiders have access to such information (presuming it were true) and position themselves to buy the dip in TKO stock?

Let’s look at the supposed WhatsApp message in question between Cipriani and Shell. If these messages are true, they tell us something about deal-making gossip involving Ari, Netflix, Paramount, TKO, and Dana White.