Lorenzo Fertitta, the former owner of the UFC, has come out and said there are many great fighters outside of the UFC.
While under oath, in an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC, Fertitta answered questions regarding whether or not the UFC has a monopoly over the world of MMA. Fertitta claimed that any promotion is capable of signing great fighters and landing a good television deal.
“There are thousands, maybe multiple thousands of fighters around the world because, once again, this is a global sport in a global market, that have the aptitude and the capability to compete at the highest level. There’s no question about that,” Fertitta said.
“When you talk about, and I say this with my experience from being the CEO of the UFC, there is so much talent in markets like Brazil, Russia, now starting to evolve in Asia and of course North America given the level of talent and training that now exists. It’s literally an endless number of fighters that have the ability to compete at the highest level and be the highest level fighters.”
In 2016, Fertitta, and his brother Frank, sold the UFC to the talent agency WME-IMG for over $4 billion. The brothers had bought the UFC in 2001 for just $2 million.
