5 Reasons why Vince McMahon loves signing MMA Fighters and UFC Champions

#3 Attracting the combat sports audience

Trying to get those UFC fans to flip over

A new audience will only help ratings for SmackDown and RAW going forward. The NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler was a legit MMA fighter, as was Matt Riddle before he was let go from the UFC. NXT is constantly hailed as the most pro wrestling of the WWE brands given that it devotes itself to the idea of a sports-like atmosphere with bell-to-bell action.

Moreover, this also gives rise to new sponsors. While this also has to do with WWE shifting to a PG rating and making their action more family friendly, sports sponsorship can attract new revenue to the publicly traded company.

According to a recent study,

"Sports properties generated $32 billion for their sponsor brands in 2018 on social media. This is a 45-percent increase from $21 billion in 2017."

By having legitimate UFC fighters in their ranks, WWE can attract the same sponsors that are also involved with the UFC. For instance, SmackDown on Fox's debut attracted Progressive Insurance as a presenting sponsor. WWE's move to more sports-oriented programming, likely gives the company more credibility with advertisers.

The jury is still out on whether this will work over the long term, but in the meantime, a lot more people are suddenly interested in WWE's product.