WWE quietly let go of Shane McMahon after the debacle of Royal Rumble 2022. The son of the billionaire Vince McMahon had reportedly booked the Men’s Royal Rumble match around himself and changed a lot of things. This didn’t impress his father, who decided to release him from the company. This wasn’t also the first time that Vince McMahon was not keen on Shane’s ideas. Shane O-Mac apparently tried to convince his father to buy out one of the many MMA promotions, including the UFC, to no avail.

After WCW’s demise, WWE was left with very little competition in its genre. UFC slowly began making a name for itself and soon caught the attention of fans. The real-life combat sports made them popular over WWE’s scripted entertainment among many viewers. Today, UFC stands tall as one of the leading brands of combat sports and has a worldwide following. But all this could’ve been very different had Vince McMahon given the nod to his son’s idea of investing in MMA.

Vince McMahon didn’t think investing in MMA was a good idea

Shane McMahon’s first attempt to buy UFC began in 2000 when the fighting promotion was struggling. In an interview with The Voice, UFC president Dana White revealed Shane McMahon tried to buy UFC but his father Vince McMahon shot the idea down. In 2004, ‘The Prodigal Son’ yet again expressed an interest in purchasing the franchise, but couldn’t convince his father.

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According to Bruce Prichard, Shane even held meetings with two of the co-founders of the UFC, but nothing materialized. And now, noted pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently confirmed on Twitter that Shane “wanted a number of MMA groups at different times”.

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In his tweet, Meltzer pointed out that Vince McMahon never thought it was a “good idea.” This is likely why, despite appearing keen on owning UFC at various points, Shane McMahon couldn’t carry on with the deal.

Apart from his two attempts to buy UFC in the early 2000s, Shane McMahon made another move to own the promotion in 2009 when it was gaining popularity across North America. But his father didn’t budge from his stance and Shane was left ruing the opportunity. As for other MMA groups, former WWE writer Court Bauer also mentioned that Shane McMahon was close to owning an MMA promotion.

He explained that he himself was involved in negotiations around the purchase of the Japanese MMA promotion PRIDE. But nothing came out of it and the deal never materialized. Indeed, it would’ve been fascinating if at any point Vince McMahon would’ve allowed his son to invest in an MMA promotion at some point. One can only imagine what would’ve happened had WWE and UFC existed under somewhat the same ownership.

What do you make of Vince McMahon’s reluctance to buy an MMA promotion? Should he have allowed his son to branch out into MMA? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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