One of the biggest news in sports in recent months was the Los Angeles Lakers being sold for a second time in less than a year. In 2025, the NBA franchise was sold from the Buss family to LA Dodgers owner Mark Walter for $10 billion, only for him to quickly flip it to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner last August for a record breaking $12.5 billion dollars.
Walter is currently under federal investigation for alleged fraud, which reportedly factored in pushing him to quickly sell the Lakers, but the record figure had the entire sports world buzzing. Sports valuations have dramatically risen lately, according to Sportico, with NBA team values increasing 21% from the previous year.
This is led by the Golden State Warriors that’s valued at $14.5 billion, the New York Knicks at $12.8 billion, and the Lakers at its pending sale price of $12.5 billion. The business outlet estimates the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys to be the only franchise to top those NBA team valuations at $15.5 billion.
Not to be outdone, UFC CEO Dana White decided to give out his own valuation for his company.
Dana White proclaims UFC now has $50 billion valuation after Lakers sale
“Let’s be honest here. The UFC was purchased for $2 million (in 2001 by the Fertitta brothers),” White proclaimed in a podcast appearance at The Diary of a CEO. “And if the Lakers sold for $12.5 billion, then the UFC is worth 50 billion, okay?”
Outside of throwing out a seemingly outlandish valuation, White also declared that the UFC is now on par with the four major sports organizations.
“I’ve seen other companies that are so big and massive, and have been around for a hundred years. You make a couple of mistakes and then somebody else is coming trying to eat your lunch, and nipping at your heels. Nobody’s nipping at my heels. All these other guys that are out there, we are not the same,” White said.
“This thing has gotten to a level now, (where) my competitors are the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NHL, and the NBA,” he claimed.
“We did an 8 billion deal with Paramount. Right now, I don’t know this for a fact, but I know this for a fact. The NFL are a bunch of animals, right? Soon as that deal was announced, all the powers that be at the NFL got in a room and said there was $8 billion out there that we didn’t get,” White alleged.
“We have everything that the NFL and the Major League Baseball, all these guys have. We are part of the four major sport organizations in the United States,” he proclaimed. “We have gotten to a level now where we are one of the top four major – all these other promoters and all these other guys putting on fights and all this they don’t matter.”
Rivals? UFC numbers pale to NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB
It’s true that the UFC doesn’t have any competitors in MMA – they have settled antitrust lawsuits and are still facing more – but going further with the other proclamations just sounded absurd.
Dana White claiming they’re already in the top four meant the UFC is already bigger than at least one of the NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB. That’s demonstrably false. Even putting them in the same ballpark as the big four is already outlandish in itself.
White touted their new seven-year $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount as the reason they’re on par with the other major sports organizations. Even if we ignore how experts called that deal a deliberate “overpay” – with Paramount accused of using UFC’s ties to Donald Trump to grease the wheels on a $110 billion deal – the UFC’s numbers simply pale in comparison to those four “rivals.”
Each of the four mainstream sports organizations generate several multiples of the UFC’s annual revenues, which are under $2 billion: from the lowest estimate of $8 billion annually for the NHL, up to $23 billion for the NFL.
The vast majority of the UFC’s company revenue comes from that Paramount deal, while the other organizations generate significantly more from other sources. To put even just the media rights deals in context: the UFC’s entire $7.7 billion deal over seven years is roughly just what the NBA gets every year from their $77 billion media rights deal in the US alone. The NFL has a whopping $110 billion media rights deal, and is reportedly looking to opt out for even more money.
Another major difference is how all four organizations have collective bargaining agreements that pay athletes around 50% of those massive revenues. While stars can get up to 50 to 70 million annually, these leagues also have lucrative minimum contracts. These can go from the lowest $750,000 in MLB, to $1.3 million for undrafted NBA rookies, and up to a $3.9 million minimum for tenured NBA veterans.
Entry level UFC fighters try to survive on $12,000, while multiple-time UFC champions have fruitlessly protested on social media because many of them can’t even clear the minimum salaries in other leagues.
Perhaps a better comparison could be Major League Soccer, who is a massive tier below the top four orgs, but they do generate more revenue ($2.5 billion) and pay better than the UFC due to collective bargaining.
It’s understandable that White would like to market the UFC and parlay that reported “above market” media package into bigger deals, but his comparisons just aren’t rooted in reality. It’s also telling that he said these on a podcast where the claims just went unchallenged, as simple follow up questions from proper media members has gotten him flustered and heated as of late.
