UFC and WWE parent company TKO Group has raised its revenue targets for 2025, backed by rising revenues at two of its valuable companies.
For full-year guidance of the rest of the year within its Q1’ 2025 report, TKO raised its revenue target from $2.93bn to $3.075bn, which was attributed to the strong performances of both UFC and WWE for the first three months of the year.
Company revenue increased by 4% to $1.269bn in Q1, with net income also rising to $165.5m, a $400m increase from a net loss of $234.5m for the year period. TKO stated this was reflected in a decrease in operating expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA was $417.4m, increasing by 23%, which was attributed to similar EBITDA increases at UFC and WWE.
Cash flows generated by TKO were $162.8m. This was an increase of $117.9m from $44.9m year-over-year, which included just over $100m in pre-payments held in escrow related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks-off next year.
Ariel Emanuel, Executive Chair and CEO of TKO, said: “TKO is off to a good start in 2025 with both UFC and WWE delivering solid financial results.
“Given the strength and momentum of these businesses and no material change to our overall business outlook, we are raising our guidance. At the same time, we are updating guidance to reflect the addition of IMG, On Location, and PBR. Our conviction in our portfolio of assets is strong and we are now focused on integration, driving synergies, the domestic media rights deal for UFC, and our capital return programmes.”
UFC
UFC experienced a period of growth from the same year prior, as Q1 total revenue increased from $313m to $359.7m year-over-year.
TKO stated that this increase in UFC revenue came from a $23.3m increase in live events and hospitality revenue, a $15.7m increase in partnerships and marketing revenue, and a $9.6m increase in media rights, production and content revenue.
The increase in live events and hospitality revenue was due to higher site fee revenues, primarily related to the UFC’s debut event held in Saudi Arabia – UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Imavov – as well as higher ticket sales revenue, related to an increase in both price and attendance, year-over-year.
The increase in partnerships and marketing revenue was related to new partners, such as recent partnerships with Meta, NetBet and Monster, and an increase in fees from renewals. The growth in media rights, production and content revenue was primarily related to the contractual escalation of media rights fees compared to the prior year period.
On the topic of media rights, the UFC is now actively exploring a new US broadcast deal for 2026 with its current broadcast partner, ESPN, exclusive negotiation window that expired on 15 April.
During an earnings call on 8 May, TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro revealed that the company is in ‘discussions with various third parties’.
He said: “We’re in discussions at this time with various third parties regarding the UFC’s rights. I would term the conversations as thoughtful and strategic. Nothing to announce at this time and ESPN is still heavily included in the mix.
“I think we’ve been pretty vocal about how great a partner they’ve been and how instrumental they’ve been to our growth and success. I still believe they’re one of the best marketing machines in the business, let alone the brand and all the excitement around ESPN flagship and whatever it’s going to be called come next week.
“Would be thrilled to continue with them and they’re definitely part of the equation but as I said for the time being, just various conversations, various parties and no real updates beyond that.”
WWE
Similar to UFC, WWE also experienced a strong start to 2025 with revenue growing year-over-year from $316.7m in Q1’ 2024 to $391.5m this year period, a 24% increase.
Media rights, production and content revenue increased by $30.5m year-over-year to $251.6m, largely attributed to the start of new broadcast deals for WWE’s weekly flagship shows. WWE RAW began its 10-year rights deal with Netflix and WWE SmackDown started its deal with the USA Network in early January.
Live events and hospitality revenue grew to $76.3m due to higher ticket sales from price and attendance despite fewer total events from the same period last year. Partnerships and marketing revenue also increased from $13.8m in Q1’ 2024, to $25.6m this year. This was backed by an increase in fees from renewals.
WWE has experienced major growth since its acquisition of TKO in September 2023 across a majority of its verticals. The company recently performed record numbers at its flagship WrestleMania 41 event in gate revenue, total number of sponsors and social media and digital engagements.
Boxing the next TKO growth driver?
The increase in full-year revenue forecast may also take into consideration the launch of TKO’s new boxing promotion, which will be led by UFC President Dana White and WWE President Nick Khan, as well as receiving the backing of HE Turki Alalshikh, Chair of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA).
Shapiro confirmed that the new TKO boxing promotion will host up to 12 events this year, with one being a super fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, to be staged at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on 12 September.
During the same earnings call, Shapiro revealed that the new boxing entity will not be called TKO Boxing and is currently working with boxing organisations, fighters and interested broadcasters.
He shared: “We’re expecting with the new boxing organisation to put on an average of, call it 12 cards a year for each of the next five years. We’re still putting that plan together and obviously working hand in hand with our friends from Saudi. Irrespective of those, we will look to do anywhere from one to four super fights per year. We’ll see how that plays out.
“Obviously, we would term the Canelo-Crawford September matchup as one of those. And then on that undercard, we would have a number of those fights that would likely air on the television media partner we would have for our newly formed boxing organisation.
“I should mention, it’s not going to be called TKO Boxing. We’ll be unveiling our name for our business fairly soon here, but it will not be TKO Boxing. Those are two separate businesses. The Saudis are funding what would be these super fight cards. We’ll work with them on media rights deals, and it’s like a commission. We’ll work with them on global partnerships and ticketing. We’ll handle the production.”
