According to the head of the UFC, this moment was his meeting with brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, which took place at the wedding of their school friend about a quarter of a century ago.
“This is madness. Lorenzo and I went to high school together. We were not best friends – he was from a rich family, and I was a rogue, but we knew each other, ”the head of the MMAnews organization quotes. “At school I had a very good friend, Adam Kogan, he was from a family with money, and every day he took me to school”
“Then I moved to Boston, but about 25 years ago, Adam invited me to the wedding, and I just couldn’t not go because he treated me very well. So I went to the wedding and met Frank and Lorenzo again. It’s the first time I’ve seen them since I left school.”
“There we were reunited. We came to Adam Kogan’s wedding and have been together ever since. If one of us had not come to this wedding, we certainly would not have met. We changed the damn world because we went to a wedding.”
In 2001, the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC for $2 million from the Semaphore Entertainment Group, and fifteen years later they sold the asset for more than $4 billion to an investor group led by management agency WME-IMG. At the same time, Dana White, who owned nine percent of the organization, remained at its helm and retained a stake in the business.
Two years ago, the president of the UFC announced that after the change of ownership, the organization has more than doubled in price and is worth about ten billion dollars.