The Men Who Changed MMA Forever

Lorenzo Fertitta, the Executive Director of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and his brother acquired what was a bankrupt company and transformed it into a business that has annual revenues of more than $600 million.

- Paulyna Merida

Las Vegas or 'Sincity' has a real reputation... a real reputation of taking sporting matches and elevating them to extravaganzas, even at the highest level of sport. An example of this is a mixed martial arts event, and the UFC rules that domain. It is almost “in charge” of maintaining the standard as it features the best fighters in the world in its competitions.

And in the sport of MMA, it is impossible to not know the name Fertitta. This surname is all the more famous because of the brothers—Lorenzo and Frank—who have dedicated themselves to taking their family businesses and making the UFC—which they own—the biggest franchise the world has seen. They also run Fertitta Entertainment, a company that has operations in the tourism industry.

In July 2016, UFC 200 featured a revenge fight between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones (who won) inside the Octagon. Other fighters, including Jose Aldo, Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar, also battled it out inside the cage. The event had millions of viewers from all over the world. For sure, organising a spectacle of this magnitude takes a lot of money, but it also generates millions of dollars and more fans with each outing.

Yet, there was a critical moment in 2000 when these fights weren’t making any profits and were considered too aggressive for most viewers. Overall, people were losing interest in not just the UFC, but in MMA. Newer leagues and formats had come up, but the UFC still had a dynamic roster. That’s the time when Bob Meyrowitz, then owner of the UFC, went bankrupt and chances of a revival seemed next to nil.