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[Nasty]

Exclusive: UFC sells percentage of company to Sheik Tahnoon of Abu Dhabi : Five Ounces of Pain

FiveOuncesofPain.com has recently received reports from multiple sources extremely close to the situation indicating that the UFC has recently sold a minority percentage of the company to Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Sheik Tahnoon is well known throughout the grappling community as the founder of the no-gi submission Olympics, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club. Himself a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie, Shiek Tahnoon has been a long time supporter and practitioner of Jiu-Jitsu.

With a current estimated population of 896,75, Abu Dhabi is the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi currently possesses 9% of the world’s proven oil reserves and nearly 5% of the world’s natural gas. In 2007 Fortune Magazine named Abu Dhabi as the single richest city in the world.

Many of you will remember UFC President Dana White posting the following message on August 3 of 2009:

Been on a plane for 20 hours. Just landed in abu dhabi!!!

Of course this was the message that raised the eyebrows of many in regards to attempting to decipher exactly what had caused the UFC figurehead to make a trip to such a distant and seemingly unlikely location.

Perhaps Dana was negotiating to have some of his athletes take part in the upcoming ADCC in Barcelona, Spain, which was scheduled for late September. As a matter of fact, several notable fighters from both the UFC and WEC had been listed to compete in the tournament before all of the names from the promotion were removed from the bout list in the days leading up to the event.

It wasn’t until the first of November when we heard anything new on the UFC/Abu Dhabi front, and this time it was Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta making the return trip to wealthy Middle-Eastern city, who tweeted the following during his stay:

Here in abu dhabi with renzo gracie. Do you want him to fight in the ufc?

Then it was the UFC 105 post-fight press conference on November 14 when White went even more into detail on the circumstances surrounding his and Fertitta’s recent trips to Abu Dhabi, stating, “We’re sending some of our crew there tomorrow. They’re flying out of here in the morning, and it looks like we’re going to do a fight in Abu Dhabi. That’s what we’re trying to do.

“We’re trying to figure out how this thing we’ll work. I don’t have a deal, but I’m pretty confident that we’re going to make one.

“I really don’t have any details other than that we’re working on it, and we’re confident that it will happen. I like Abu Dhabi. It’s a pretty cool place.

“Obviously, everybody knows Shiek Tahnoon is a huge jiu-jitsu guy. He’s a Renzo Gracie black belt. He’s very into jiu-jitsu.”

Skip ahead to December 2 and this time it was both Dana and Lorenzo who chose to take a brief getaway to Morocco of all places to meet up with Sheik Tahnoon where the pictures seen below were taken.

White jokingly played at freeing an incarcerated former UFC fighter from a local prison during the trip in this tweet:

In morocco to bust lee murray out!!!!!

Of course FiveOuncesofPain.com has received information from several sources indicating that the trip had little to do with busting Murray out of jail, and everything to do with a major deal between the UFC and Sheik Tahnoon.

A week later the UFC president had this to say in regards to his recent trip to Morocco in an interview with MMAFanhouse.com, “We were doing a deal out in Morocco. What I was in Velenzuela for is top secret.”

5 Oz. has been further notified by several sources that have indicated that Sheik Tahnoon’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor, Renzo Gracie, played a key role in brokering the deal between the two parties. We have been further informed that key components of the deal included Gracie’s signing by the UFC, along with the Renzo’s participation against Matt Hughes in Abu Dhabi.

FiveOuncesofPain.com has made multiple attempts to contact the UFC regarding this situation but have yet to hear back from the promotion. We will keep you up to date as soon as we receive any type of official comment from the UFC.

Damn...

[KevoOnTheRadio]

So what your saying is that this guy is so rich, he can snap his fingers and have Renzo Gracie sign with the UFC, buy a portion of the biggest MMA organazation in the world, and have them put on a show in his home town? Think about that the next time you fill up your gas tank.

[snakebite]

I wonder what any of this means? Especially when 2 months ago dana white was saying he would never sell any of the ufc and if they did it would be a huge compliment to whoever bought it.

[MrCruise]

I guess Shane McMahon is out as a potential minority shareholder.

[MickeyKnox]

wow...wonder what else that guy can do.

[lordpyro]

I don't see where it says anything about shares being sold to the Shiek in the body of the post. The title is quite misleading as the actual story never mentions or uses the words "sell" or "stock" or "share" for that matter. The only thing I see is that the UFC had to sigh Renzo, and have him fight Matt Hughs in Abu Dhabi.

Since the Sheik is not a US Citizen, I'm pretty sure any kind of deal like that would have to be approved by the Federal Tade Commission, even though Zuffa is a private company.

Can anyone with more detailed knowledge of International Business law offer some insight?

[Nasty]

Originally Posted by lordpyro

I don't see where it says anything about shares being sold to the Shiek in the body of the post. The title is quite misleading as the actual story never mentions or uses the words "sell" or "stock" or "share" for that matter. The only thing I see is that the UFC had to sigh Renzo, and have him fight Matt Hughs in Abu Dhabi.

To sell a portion of a company is to sell a share of the company. It's a privately owned business so obviously there are no 'shares' to sell.

[quote]FiveOuncesofPain.com has recently received reports from multiple sources extremely close to the situation indicating that the UFC has recently sold a minority percentage of the company to Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

[SickNasty]

Thats fantastic, one country at a time.

[hurt80]

i call bullshit!

[lordpyro]

To sell a portion of a company is to sell a share of the company. It's a privately owned business so obviously there are no 'shares' to sell.

FiveOuncesofPain.com has recently received reports from multiple sources extremely close to the situation indicating that the UFC has recently sold a minority percentage of the company to Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of the former United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Hmmmm, guess I should work on my reading comprehension.

Still though, even as private company, I think there are some federal regulations regarding the change of ownership involved in selling a piece of the company no matter how small.

Granted, I'm not a lawyer or business expert, but in the past a company I worked for sold a percentage to an employee who was a not a citizen, and they had to jump through hoops with the Feds to do it.

The point I am mainly alluding to is that there will be some sort of paperwork that surfaces in the near term showing that such a sale did occur.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is true, however, I don't put to much stock in these internet rumors.