World Wrestling Entertainment may soon be stepping into the world of Mixed Martial Arts. At a stockholder’s meeting in May, Vince McMahon said WWE had previously explored the idea of a WWE-branded MMA product. Vince said the recent explosion in popularity of the sport is undeniable and that MMA is a natural expansion for them.
Billionare Marc Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has come out and revealed that he’s been talking with WWE executives about creating a mixed martial arts organization to compete with UFC.
Here’s what Marc Cuban had to say:
"We’ve been in discussions with the WWE, Vince and Linda McMahon and Shane about doing some cross promotions under the HDNet Fights banner. Since they do a great job of putting together events, within some of the restraints that I talked about, the no ring girls and obviously the events have to be straight up, there’s no scripted anything, but they want to get into that side of the business. They realize that if they just brand it as WWE, that people aren’t going to believe that it’s not scripted, but if they work with Mark Cuban and HDNet Fights and the Dallas Mavericks approach, then people will trust it.”
Shane McMahon is said to be a huge mixed martial arts fan and has pushed for WWE to consider starting a legit MMA brand.