8 Reasons Why MMA Fans Shouldn't Make Fun Of Wrestling

5. The Fertittas Freely Admit They Copied The WWE Business Model To Succeed

Despite being such a popular, controversial, and innovative television product in the late 90's, UFC was on it's last legs and verging on bankruptcy before Dana White and The Fertitta Brothers purchased the struggling league for just $2,000,000 in 2001. Just a few years later, the company was a billion dollar empire. The secret to the turnaround? During a 'Leaders Sport Summit' Q&A in 2014, UFC Partner Lorenzo Fertitta was candid in his response: "WWE had become very astute at selling their product and getting people to buy pay-per-views by using free television. When we started, we had no traditional free press. Nobody was covering us, no one took us seriously as a sport. Therefore we had to turn to the WWE model - they have Monday Night Raw, Thursday Night SmackDown, which were television shows that told a story, and the story was trying to convince you to transact on Sunday night on PPV. So looking at their business plan was the key." UFC soon launched themselves head first into merchandising, including action figures, video games, posters and t-shirts - even launching their own version of the WWE Network. The industry as it stands today owes a great deal to the visionary leadership of Vince McMahon and WWE. But it's not just the behind the scenes business dealings that emulated the WWE model to great success...