A new publicly traded company will house UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment brands, with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. taking a 51% controlling interest in the new company. Existing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% stake.

The companies put the enterprise value of UFC at $12.1 billion and WWE’s value at $9.3 billion.

The new business, which does not yet have a name, will be lead by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Vince McMahon, executive chairman at WWE, will serve in the same role at the new company. Dana White will continue as president of UFC and Nick Khan will be president at WWE.

“Together, we will be a $21+ billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” McMahon said in a prepared statement Monday.

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He also provided some idea of where the focus of the new company will be, saying that it will look to maximize the value of combined media rights, enhance sponsorship monetization, develop new forms of content and pursue other strategic mergers and acquisitions to further bolster their brands.

A synergy already exists talent wise between WWE and UFC, with stars such as Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey crossing over between the two businesses.

The deal between Endeavor and WWE catapults WWE into a new era, after functioning as a family-run business for decades. McMahon purchased Capitol Wrestling from his father in 1982, and took the regional wrestling business to a national audience with the likes of wrestling stars such as Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The company, which changed its name to World Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Entertainment, hosted its first WrestleMania in 1985.

The announcement of the WWE transaction arrives after McMahon, the founder and majority shareholder of WWE, returned to the company in January and said that it could be up for sale.

Rumors swirled about who would possibly be interested in buying WWE, with Endeavor, Disney, Fox, Comcast, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund all in the mix.

Media industry analysts viewed WWE as an attractive target given its global reach and loyal fanbase, which includes everyone from minors to seniors and a wide range of incomes.

The company held its marquee event, WrestleMania, over the weekend. Last year, WWE booked revenue of $1.3 billion.

UFC star Conor McGregor took to Twitter Sunday night during WrestleMania and imagined a world where he’d have title belts in both

The company is also a social media powerhouse. It surpassed 16 billion social video views in the final quarter of last year. It has nearly 94 million YouTube subscribers and has more than 20 million followers on TikTok. Its female wrestlers comprise five out of the top 15 most followed female athletes in the world, across Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, led by Ronda Rousey with 36.1 million followers.

WWE had more than 7.5 billion digital and social media views in January and February of this year, up 15% from the same time frame a year ago.

The new company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the “TKO” ticker symbol. Its board will have 11 members, with six being appointed by Endeavor and five being appointed by WWE.

“We like the assets of UFC and also WWE in a world where linear TV is losing market share to streaming, thus live sport content is in high demand,” wrote Jeffries analyst Randal Konik said in a note to clients.

The transaction, which was approved by the boards of Endeavor and WWE, is targeted to close in the second half of the year. It still needs regulatory approval.

Shares of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., based in Stamford, Connecticut, are up 33% this year, but fell more than 6% before the opening bell on Monday. Shares of Endeavor, based in Beverly Hills, California, rose more than 4%.

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Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment has agreed to merge with UFC to form a new publicly traded company controlled by Endeavor Group, the companies announced Monday morning.

Endeavor will own a 51% stake in the new combat sports and entertainment company, while WWE shareholders will have the remaining 49%, according to the terms of the agreement. The deal values WWE at $9.3 billion and UFC, which is owned by Endeavor, at $12.1 billion, the companies said in a press release.

Shares of WWE and Endeavor both fell Monday morning. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023.

Ari Emanuel will act as chief executive of both Endeavor and the new company, the companies said. McMahon, likewise, will be executive chairman, while Endeavor President and COO Mark Shapiro will also work in the same roles at the new company. Dana White will remain as president of UFC, and WWE CEO Nick Khan will stay on as president of the wrestling business.

“This is going to be UFC 2.0,” Emanuel said in an interview that aired Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

The board will consist of 11 people, six appointed by Endeavor and five by WWE. The merged company’s name will be announced at a later time. The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TKO.

The announcement confirmed an earlier CNBC report. It also came a day after WWE wrapped up its flagship live event, WrestleMania, in California. The company has spent the past several months looking for a buyer. McMahon returned to WWE as chairman in January to oversee the process. WWE has a market valuation of about $6.5 billion. Endeavor has a market cap of about $10 billion.

Deal logic

The agreement would pair two of the biggest sports entertainment brands in the world.

Despite notable differences – WWE features scripted matches and soap opera-like storylines, while UFC showcases authentically brutal mixed martial arts fighting – the organizations share similarities in terms of content and culture. Several UFC fighters, including Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar, have already wrestled for WWE.

UFC champion and superstar Conor McGregor lauded news of the pending deal Sunday evening. “Incredible. What a powerhouse!” he said in one tweet, following up with another tweet displaying an image of him brandishing UFC and WWE championship belts.

WWE offers Endeavor’s shareholders a muscular media and live events business, as well as decades worth of intellectual property. The company generated $1.29 billion in revenue last year, driven mainly by its $1 billion media unit.

Endeavor “knows the business” of WWE, Emanuel said in a recorded investor presentation Monday. WWE’s media rights deals for traditional TV and streaming are up for renewal in the coming months. Endeavor owns the WME talent agency and has used its expertise in media rights, celebrity and live events to grow UFC’s revenue to $1.3 billion last year, up 20% from a year earlier. The company plans to run “the same playbook” with WWE, Emanuel said.

“We have a track record of success with media rights,” Emanuel said. “WWE has similar scale to UFC. In the universe of assets at this scale, the opportunity is rare and finite.”

Comcast‘s NBCUniversal has an existing cable TV and streaming deal with WWE. Fox also has a separate media deal with WWE. The combined company may also explore new direct-to-consumer opportunities, Emanuel said.

End of family business

Emanuel told CNBC he asked McMahon to stay with the combined company as executive chairman. McMahon said he didn’t have to be convinced to stick around with what’s been a family business for decades.

McMahon’s father founded WWE in its original incarnation during the middle of the 20th century. McMahon, who bought the company from his father in 1982, is the controlling shareholder. Over the past four decades, WWE has grown into a global phenomenon, spawning breakout stars such as Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dave Bautista and John Cena.

“It’s a great day,” said McMahon. “Things have to evolve. Family businesses have to evolve for all the right reasons.”

McMahon, 77, retired from the company in July following a string of revelations that he paid several women millions of dollars over the years to keep them quiet about alleged affairs and misconduct. Over the summer, WWE acknowledged that other entities were investigating the hush payments. The Wall Street Journal had reported about federal probes into the matter.

McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, became co-CEO alongside Khan. Paul Levesque, who’s both Stephanie McMahon’s husband and the wrestler known as Triple H, took over creative duties from Vince McMahon.

After Vince McMahon came back in January, Stephanie McMahon stepped down and Khan fully assumed the CEO role. The elder McMahon recently locked in a two-year employment contract, according to a securities filing.

“I’ve made mistakes both personally and professionally,” McMahon acknowledged in his CNBC interview.

McMahon told CNBC he won’t be “in the weeds” with WWE’s creative decisions when the companies merge.

‘Robust’ process

Khan in recent weeks has been making the media rounds to discuss the potential sale. He told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan on Thursday that there’s been a “robust” process that drew many interested buyers. Emanuel reiterated to CNBC that the sale process was “competitive.”

WWE also fits well with the cultures of Endeavor and UFC, which also reflect their leaders’ hard-edged styles. McMahon, Emanuel and White are known for their outsized personalities, and each has their share of devoted allies and and harsh critics.

White is no stranger to scandal, either. Earlier this year, video emerged showing the UFC boss slapping his wife during a public argument at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico. He later apologized.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

John Cena can see Caitlin Clark.

The Iowa guard waved her hand in front of her face on Sunday, celebrating her historic performance with wrestler and actor’s “You Can’t See Me” trademark.

But just about everyone has taken notice of Clark. Including the star wrestler himself.

“Even if they could see you…they couldn’t guard you!” Cena tweeted to his 14 million followers while congratulating Clark and Iowa on Tuesday.

Clark had 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Hawkeyes to a 97-83 win over Louisville in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament. It was the first 40-point triple-double in the history of the tournament, women’s or men’s.

She scored or assisted on 31 of Iowa’s 33 second-half points against Louisville.

Clark hit eight threes on the night, after the sixth of which she broke out Cena’s famous taunt. She led the Hawkeyes back to the Final Four for the first time in 30 years.

“Congrats on the historic performance @CaitlinClark22 and to @IowaWBB on advancing to the Final Four! @MarchMadnessWBB #WFinalFour” Cena tweeted.

Iowa faces No. 1 South Carolina on Friday with a chance to advance to its first national championship game in program history.

The following night, Cena takes on Austin Theory at WrestleMania 39.

All eyes will be on Clark and Cena this weekend, even if they claim they can’t be seen.

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Nicknamed “The Unpredictable,” John Rodriguez was faced with an unforeseen circumstance regarding his heart that almost knocked him out. Throughout a nearly 40-year career, Rodriguez has traveled around the world and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the World Wrestling Federation (WWE) in 1996.

Also known as Johnny Rodz, the 81-year-old first emigrated from Puerto Rico at the age of 12 and currently resides in Staten Island with his family.

After retiring in the mid-1980s, this lifelong athlete continues to spend his time in the ring at the renowned Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. He is noted for training the next generation of wrestlers like Cowboy Bad Billy Walker, Damien Demento, D-von Dudley, Tazz and Tommy Dreamer.

The former heavyweight champ was unstoppable until late 2021. At the time, Rodriguez was visiting an Ohio rest stop during a family road trip when, without warning, he found himself gasping for air.

“All of a sudden, I got this feeling about breathing that – wow – I could not breathe,” Rodriguez told NBC New York.

He knew to prop himself up as best as he could before promptly beginning quick, repeated breathing exercises for ten minutes before returning to the car.

Unknown to him, the longtime competitor was suffering from silent ischemia, a lack of adequate and oxygenated blood flowing to the heart. That episode was just one example of the events to follow with his stamina slowly depleting.

A silent heart attack with class four congestive heart failure had Rodriguez on the ropes with a heart function at a mere 15%. In comparison, a normal heart function should be at least 50% with anything falling below 40% hinting as a sign of heart failure, according to Penn Medicine.

In the United States, over 805,000 heart attacks occur each year with 170,000 of those being silent, according to the American Heart Association. These unrecognizable attacks are more common in women and diabetics with certain ranging symptoms like indigestion, fatigue, and strain in the chest muscles.

“The fact that he was an athlete and had done so much physical work in his life, gave him a bit of an advantage, at least in some part. But he had a history of high blood pressure and history of diabetes. He was an ex-smoker,” Dr. Rohit Shahani, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Staten Island University Hospital, said to News 4.

Rodriguez’s heart disease was too far gone for additional coronary stents, tube-shaped devices used to open arteries. Besides surgery risk factors and old age, he decided to take a chance with Dr. Shahani, who performed the triple bypass surgery on a heart-lung machine.

“You stop the heart and you bypass the blockages. You’ve got blocked pipes, which bring blood to your heart by coronary arteries. We bring new blood supply, fancy plumbing,” explained Dr. Shahani.

The Unpredictable made an incredible recovery doubling his heart function and still working at his corner office at Gleason’s Gym.

“The guy [Dr. Shahani] beat the hell outta me, but I’m never gonna forget him because you know what? Not everybody can take a broken-down person who should have died already and bring him back to life,” Rodriguez said.

Aaron Stickler died Saturday after suffering sudden cardiac arrest about two weeks ago, according to his family and the Richardson Independent School District.

The 42-year-old was a teacher and the head wrestling coach at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson.

Stickler leaves behind five children and his wife, Tiffany, who is also a teacher and coach at the same high school.

He was in his first year as head wrestling coach, according to RISD.

Jarrett Lambert, the school’s athletic coordinator, said even when Stickler began to feel ill in early February, Stickler made sure to be there, encouraging and guiding his wrestlers before a big regional meet.

“It was important to him to be there to support our male and female wrestlers who qualified for the regional meet. He made a point to be there to coach his kids. That was important to him,” said Lambert. “He loves his kids and he set a great example for his kids. Visiting with our boys and girls the other morning and listening them talk about him. It just reiterated what he stood for.”

“Aaron was a kind, respectful, motivating, and talented educator, and a highly valued member of our PHS family. He will be fondly remembered and missed tremendously by our entire school community,” a district statement read.

The district has a team of counselors on hand this week for any PHS students or staff in need of help processing the loss.

“If you would like to share condolences or a memory of Mr. Stickler with his family that may help them through this very sad time, please email condolences@g.risd.org and our RISD counseling staff will pass messages along,” the district said.

There is also a fundraiser for the family planned for Wednesday, March 1 from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Altitude Richardson on W. Campbell Road.

ONLINE: The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with funeral costs, including returning Stickler to his home state of Minnesota. If you would like to contribute, click here.

Former WWE wrestler Sara Lee died at age 30 on Oct. 5, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. Lee’s mother, Terri, confirmed the news on social media on Oct. 6. No official cause of death has been revealed.

“It is with heavy hearts we wanted to share that our Sara Weston has gone to be with Jesus,” she wrote on Facebook, accompanied by a photo of Lee in a floral dress with a wreath on her head. “We are all in shock and arrangements are not complete. We ask that you respectfully let our family mourn.”

Her mom added, “We all need prayers especially Cory and her children.”

Lee is survived by her husband Cory James Weston (who performed on WWE under the name Wesley Blake) and their daughter Piper, 5, and two sons Brady, 3, and Case Oliver, 14 months.

Lee rose to fame on the sixth and final season of “Tough Enough,” a reality television show where aspiring men and women wrestlers compete for a one-year, $250,000 WWE contract. Lee was one of two winners that season, earning her an opportunity to wrestle for the network from September 2015 to September 2016. In her “Tough Enough” 2015 audition tape, Lee spoke confidently about her toughness.

“WWE, all these girls are missing one thing that I’ve got, and that’s strength,” she said in the video. “Where are the strong girls at?”

After her “Tough Enough” win on Aug. 25, 2015, Lee spoke about facing what her toughest critics had to say about her.

“You just go to put it aside,” Lee said on the show. “It fueled me more and more to come out here and put on a good show to show them all wrong.”

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Elisah Spencer, the NYPD said, ran toward and tackled Rollins at Barclays Center in Brooklyn during the live broadcast of WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

According to police, at around 9:20 p.m., Spencer left his seating section, jumped the metal barricade and tackled Rollins while he was walking up the ramp to the stage.

Spencer was taken into custody at the scene and charged with attempted assault and attempted violation of arts and cultural affairs — disrupting live sporting event. Rollins sustained swelling to his lip and refused medical attention.

Attorney information for Spencer was not immediately known.