When it became official that WME-IMG would be purchasing the Ultimate Fighting Championship last year, fight fans and fighters themselves were worried about the immediate future of the world-leader in MMA. While UFC President Dana White informed employees not to panic before the purchase was made, it wasn’t made public that he spoke with them after the transaction took place.
Hundreds of employees were released from their jobs shortly thereafter; Everybody from office employees to commentator Mike Goldberg was left in the dust, searching for a job from WME-IMG. Goldberg recently opened up to MMA Hour about how his entire image of what he thought was a happy family shatter:
“I was one of a lot of people, a lot of good people from the ZUFFA-era that got caught. So I feel for my co-workers, for my friends as much as I felt for myself. I watched everything around me be shattered. It took 15 years to build this wonderful family, and it felt like it took 15 minutes to destroy it. And it was a really tough time, and it’s still a tough time because there may be more to come. This is not uncommon with an ownership change.”
