Zach and Nate are back with a super-sized MMA Draw podcast. One action-packed hour!
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Let’s start with a ‘we told you so’
This week’s news that Kash Patel, the Trump-appointed head of the FBI “wants the FBI to establish a formal relationship with the UFC, which could develop programs for agents to improve their physical fitness” gave Zach an irresistible opportunity to remind listeners that he predicted this just a couple weeks ago at The MMA Draw.
Here’s what Zach wrote in November 2024 for those who doubt:
Make no mistake about it. Whatever revenue shortfalls TKO has in the short-to-mid-term, they will be able to make up for some of their losses in the form of expanding government contracts under a Trump 2.0 administration.
TKO contracts with the Department of Defense for military sponsorship and sold show deals, perhaps the USO circuit. Potential deals with Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration, which is a catch-all of all Federal agency contracts. The amount of friendly or no-bid government contracts will be quickly flowing towards UFC.
We spent much of this week’s free preview section of The MMA Draw podcast discussing these first exciting hints that Donald Trump’s second presidential term is going to feature unprecedented opportunities for TKO/Endeavor to “Kash” in on their many close relationships with this new DC administration.
From there, we tease a little bit of the paywalled members-only discussion of the lawsuit Hollywood mega-lawyer Patty Glaser (former clients include Harvey Weinstein, Kirk Kerkorian, Keith Olbermann and Conan O'Brien) filed against boxing promoters Top Rank, specifically Bob Arum’s son-in-law Todd duBoef, on behalf of one Billy Keane.
That leads to a discussion of how big-money corporate entities have muscled out “connected” promoters out of the fight game over the last couple of decades with Zuffa’s 2007 purchase of the yakuza-tainted PRIDE FC promotion being just one of many examples.
We point out how this lawsuit (PDF link here) will help serve the public relation purposes of TKO/Endeavor and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as they attempt to monopolize boxing over the bodies of old-school promoters like Bob Arum’s Top Rank. And we also ask the obvious question: how does a relative “unknown” like Billy Keane end up suddenly employing one of Hollywood’s most-feared attorneys?
Is this lawsuit a contributing factor to ESPN’s reported divorce with Top Rank Boxing?
From there, we discuss the amazing confluence of Middle Eastern power players represented by the current iteration of TKO/Endeavor (currently largely financed by the United Arab Emirates’ Mubadala Investment Company) and the nascent partnership between TKO and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as represented by Turki Alalshikh and their stated plans to “take over” boxing.
We discuss some of the downsides of fighting and traveling in the Gulf States as experienced by Floyd Schofield, Jr. and Floyd Mayweather.
And of course, we dive deep into the revelations from this week’s TKO earnings call with investors — including TKO’s shockingly low net income for 2024 and why that hasn’t put a dent into the lavishly-funded lifestyles of TKO insiders, plus what Mark Shapiro had to say about the Ali Act, and a little bit about the very odd movements TKO’s stock (one of the most-heavily insider-traded stonks on the market today).
The world is getting crazier and you definitely need advocates on your side who can navigate this non-stop news cycle and separate fact from fiction.
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