Dana White shares the estimated value of the UFC

If UFC President Dana White is to believed, the UFC is now worth a whopping $7 billion.

Speaking to motivational speaker Tony Robbins, White explained that a big part of this spike in value is due to the promotion’s $1.5 billion deal with ESPN, who will soon begin broadcasting UFC events both on television and through the online streaming service ESPN+.

“When you think about it we haven’t even scratched the surface yet of how big this thing can be,” White said (transcript via MMAJunkie). “We just did a TV deal with ESPN for $1.5 billion for five years. Now the company is worth $7 billion.”

“Obviously this ESPN deal is going to be massive for us, expose us to millions of people just here in the U.S. that haven’t been exposed to the UFC,” White added. “We’re going to continue to go into markets we haven’t been, we’re going to continue to find the best talent in the world. I love to find up-and-coming talent. I love to find the next guy or girl. Continue to build the sport. That’s it. That’s my focus. It’s not rocket science, it’s nothing crazy. Just continue to do what we do and get bigger and bigger.”

If Dana White’s valuation of the UFC is accurate, it means the promotion is now worth almost twice the $4.025 billion it sold for in August 2016. With stars like Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz scheduled to fight in the fall, and stars like Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones expected to return to the cage in the near future, that number could climb even higher.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/20/2018.