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1 week ago | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold |Nate Wilcox
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -24:56Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. UFC 314 was heralded as a card worthy of hardcore attention. Finally, a modern UFC fight card that was respectable. Intriguingly, early Google Trends revealed good but not great numbers — which may or may not serve as a form of confirmation bias that if you’re into the current UFC product, you’re into it. If you’re not, you’re not.
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2 weeks ago | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold |Nate Wilcox
Can buying off the UFC buy you political protection? This week’s edition of The MMA Podcast takes a closer look at Meta's sponsorship deal with the UFC and whether or not buying Dana White’s loyalty can help persuade the inner circle around Donald Trump not to aggressively pursue new antitrust action against Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire. It this sounds like House of Cards, it’s because this is the new world that TKO has created in fight sport.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
The ticket sales might not be thunderous for UFC 310 at T-Mobile Arena but the UFC has a lot riding on the line with the signing of recent RIZIN champion Kai Asakura. There’s a reason Mr. Asakura is in the main event slot of a major fight card: UFC is currently lacking in star power.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -48:31Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. We’re making our Thanksgiving special available to our free subscribers a week after we released it for our paying subscribers. Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold proudly present The MMA Draw 2024 Year-End Audio Special. Get to know us as far as who we are, what we do, and why we do what we do.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
The promotional messages from RIZIN boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara & PFL boss Donn Davis on New Year’s Eve reveal opposite visions for the future of combat sports in 2025. The two major non-UFC players in Mixed Martial Arts have very different strategies and messages to both the fans and fighters. You won’t read this kind of commentary on the fight business anywhere else. Subscribe today. One promotion goes all-in for a major fight event with a clear matchmaking direction. The other promotion?
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
As nostalgic old-school wrestling fans rejoiced at the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event with Jesse Ventura on NBC last Saturday night, one person’s Name, Image, and Likeness was conspicuous by its absence on SNME: the guy with the formerly 24-inch pythons. But don’t worry, Hulk Hogan wasn’t persona non grata in TKO land. He was laughably hyping up Colby Covington in Tampa alongside Chael Sonnen. Truth, justice, and the American way.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
We spent our Christmas 2024 Podcast talking about the impact of the infusion of PRIDE talent in UFC after the Japanese promotion collapsed. It bought Zuffa several good years of marquee fights involving Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Dan Henderson, and Wanderlei Silva. With a middling First Quarter looming ahead for the UFC in terms of meh-quality fights and limited star power, it’s only natural to start asking what the UFC’s strategy is for a talent infusion.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -17:23Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to The MMA Draw Newsletter to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. Nate Wilcox, the founder of Bloody Elbow and Zach Arnold, the founder of Fight Opinion explain the game behind the fights, covering the business of MMA, combat sports and a little bit of pro wrestling.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
themmadraw.com | Zach Arnold
The world of combat sports economics changed Monday night in the United States. 4.9 million people globally watched RAW on Netflix. Did you spot the giant magic trick Ari Emanuel and Endeavor/TKO pulled on paying customers? It’s getting more expensive by the day to be a pro wrestling or fight fan. Much of that is by design. You’re paying more to get less while being convinced by the powers that be that you are getting great value… while they are value-extracting the hell out of you.
