TKO explained: Know all insights of merger between McMahon's WWE and Dana White-led UFC

Tuesday marked the first day of public trading for the UFC-WWE merger, formally known as TKO Group Holdings, Inc (with "TKO" as its ticker symbol). Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel had the honour of ringing the bell to commence trading at the New York Stock Exchange. UFC President Dana White and WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon joined Emanuel to honour the momentous occasion.

3 things you need to know

• UFC and WWE are officially merged
• The new entity formed will be known as TKO Group Holdings
• As per changed ownership, Dana White will no longer be the president of UFC

WWE and UFC are officially a tag-team

Top WWE executives Nick Khan and Paul ''Triple H' Levesque, Superstar Montez Ford and Bianca Belair, and former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier, were among the notable individuals who attended the ceremony. The ceremony on Tuesday was the result of several steps taken by Endeavor to merge the major combat sports organisations, which were made public in April. Despite the fact that the UFC and the WWE are now part of a single publicly traded business, Emanuel has stated that the companies would continue to run independently under their existing management.

Emanuel and McMahon also released statements via a press release.

Meet TKO Group Holdings, Inc. a premium sports, entertainment, and media company made up of @ufc and @WWE.

Join us in celebrating its listing of $TKO 🔔 pic.twitter.com/ZWEmyWGUCq

— NYSE 🏛 (@NYSE) September 12, 2023

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Ari Emanuel

“The creation of TKO marks an exciting new chapter for UFC and WWE as leaders in global sports and entertainment. Given their continued connectivity to the Endeavor network, we are confident in our ability to accelerate their respective growth and unlock long-term sustainable value for shareholders. With UFC and WWE under one roof, we will provide unrivalled experiences for more than a billion passionate fans worldwide.”

Vince McMahon

“This is the culmination of a decades-long partnership between Endeavor and WWE across strategic initiatives including talent representation and media rights. Given our collaborative, trusted relationship and Endeavor’s incredible track record of success growing UFC, we believe WWE is optimally positioned for future growth and success as part of TKO. Our focus remains on delivering for our fans across the globe as we take the business to the next level alongside UFC and Endeavor.”

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Dana White on the merger

Dana White, who will now operate as the CEO of UFC rather than the president, has also laid out his views on the merger. According to the CEO, nothing will change except his designation.

“Everything that goes on here I determine. Nothing has changed, just three letters instead of (nine),” White said. “… We’re just going to continue to kick (explicit) like we do every single year. For people that are fighters or media or whoever, this just takes this whole thing to another level. It’s so much bigger and so much more powerful. When you think about all the things that I want to do before my time is up here, today made that a lot easier and a lot more doable.”, he told MMA junkie.