UFC And WWE Merge Live Events Teams: Are "TKO All-Star Weekends" Becoming a Reality?

The TKO Live Events Strategy Team has been formed.

By Liam Crowley

WWE and UFC continue to become a more cohesive unit. This past September, Endeavor officially acquired WWE and merged it with its other combat sports giant, UFC. This merger was emphasized as existing in corporate and promotion only, as UFC President Dana White had mentioned before that he does not anticipate any on-screen crossover between the two. Over the past eight months, WWE and UFC have integrated further into one another as evident by UFC fighter Michael Chandler calling out Conor McGregor during a WWE Monday Night Raw broadcast and WWE NXT heading to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for an upcoming premium live event.

UFC And WWE Merge Live Events Teams

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Supersized combat sports weekends from TKO could be coming soon.

As announced in a press release, TKO has "integrated the UFC and WWE Live events teams into one unit" which will be known as the TKO Live Events Strategy Team.

"Demand for live sports and entertainment has never been stronger, and we believe our portfolio of events will continue to drive the growth of our business," TKO Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer said. "The newly integrated TKO Live Events Strategy Team will focus on creating operational efficiencies and developing strategies to leverage the broader economic benefits we bring to host cities, including partnering with local governments and maximizing revenue opportunities from site fees."

This announcement puts a recent report about WWE's premium live events schedule into a new perspective. WWE is reportedly set to move away from Saturdays for premium live events in order to leave that day open for UFC pay-per-views. This aligns with WWE President Nick Khan's initial vision from the merger, as he prophesied having an "all-star TKO weekend" with events from both companies happening across multiple days in the same city.

"What everyone envisions is, can you set up an all-star TKO weekend where SmackDown goes on Friday, UFC on Saturday with pay-per-view, and WWE goes with a premium live event on Sunday. Can you do that from the same city?" Khan proposed in September 2023. "Certainly, a lot of cost efficiencies there in terms of production, but a lot of revenue efficiencies in terms of upside there as well."

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That said, there will not always be room to supersize WWE weekends with UFC pay-per-views, as evident by the recent WWE SummerSlam announcement. 

Stay tuned to ComicBook for updates on WWE and UFC's live events strategy.

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