CEO Ari Emanuel reveals COVID-19 almost led to UFC parent company Endeavor's collapse

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel has revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic nearly lead to the collapse of the company, including the UFC.

Endeavor are the parent company of the MMA organization and most recently aquired the WWE in a record-breaking deal that will see the three entities merge to form a global sports conglomerate.

According to Ari Emanuel, however, Endeavor itself nearly ceased to exist due to the pandemic. Speaking on the Freakonomics Radio podcast, Emanuel revealed he had had to fire countless people in order to keep the company afloat:

“It was bad...I’d never had to fire that many people.”

The 62-year-old also credited the UFC for helping with the survival of Endeavor, labeling the promotion as a "savior."

During the pandemic, the promotion was one of the first major sports brands to return, which opted to create 'Fight Island' in order to maintain a COVID bubble. Emanuel added:

“Keeping the UFC on, you know, we did about...I might be wrong here...but I think about 70 percent of our revenue in the COVID year. We had our ESPN deal. We then started making deals for writers. So we stored all the cash. We didn’t let anything out. We let people go, which was horrible, or furloughed them.”

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Dana White weighs in on UFC clash between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler

Dana White has promised fans that Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler will live upto expectations when the pair eventually face-off in the octagon.

Chandler and McGregor recently coached against one another on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31, with the episodes currently airing weekly on ESPN and ESPN+.

The pair are expected to meet inside the cage before the end of the year, but so far no official date has been set. Despite that, the UFC president has urged fans to remain patient as he believes the fight will be worth the wait.

Speaking The Mac Life, Dana White said:

"When you're going into a fight like this, it's all the questions. You have these fights where you're like, 'I know this guy's going to come in and walk right over this guy, so it's not fun.' That's not the case with this thing."

He added:

"When you take Conor's layoff, his injury that he recovered from, trying to get back on top. And Chandler and how tough and durable he is and how the guy never quits and just keeps coming. Both guys have the ability to knock people out with one punch, the wrestling factor, the this, the that. All those questions are what makes this fight so fun."

Catch the interview here (3:40):