Let's be honest here, the UFC and WWE are competitors, although perhaps not necessarily in the conventional sense. But the respective business models are similar enough to suggest that internally, the hierarchy of both companies view each other as direct competitors.
WWE chief-brand-office, Stephanie McMahon has taken the predictable approach and denied any rivalry between the brands - but she has gone one step further with some bizarre and blatantly wrong comments.
Speaking to UK Business Insider, McMahon said that:
UFC, they can make a big star but the second that person loses, they lose credibility, and how do you continue to make that star rise?
The UFC's three biggest starts are undoubtedly Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones - in whatever order you want. Both McGregor and Rousey suffered losses in their last fights, and Jones couldn't have done any more to try and damage his credibility even if he tried - given his actions outside the cage.
But the fact remains, they've not lost any credibility despite their losses. And given the nature of the UFC, everybody is going to lose at some stage in their life. In fact, Conor McGregor's credibility seems to be boosted by his humble reaction to his first UFC defeat.
McMahon seems to be trying to suggest that the WWE allowing Brock Lesnar to compete at the UFC's showcase event is because the two aren't rivals - but nobody is buying that.
It's widely accepted that the only reason WWE are allowing Lesnar to compete at UFC 200 is because they will ask the UFC to return the favour, and allow one of the UFC's superstars like Ronda Rousey or Paige Van Zant make a WWE appearance.
On the issue of the rivalry between the UFC and WWE - McMahon said that:
UFC is not a competitor to the WWE because we are entertainment and UFC is competitive sport. It's very different. WWE is all about protagonists and antagonists where ultimately our conflicts are settled in the ring with action that is akin to Hollywood.
It's incredible stunt-like action and the match itself tells a story, but our audience is engaged in the characters and their storyline. It has to be relatable to them so that they care to see the tragedy or triumph and we're at an advantage because we can script it.
It would be foolish of McMahon to overlook the UFC as a rival, given the huge in popularity over the last couple of years. We could see more and more of instances like CM Punk swapping WWE for UFC in the future - but we're not buying your comments that there's no rivalry between the promotions Stephaine.
Stephanie McMahon on Brock Lesnar's fight at UFC 200: "We are not supporting the fight necessarily"
— John Pollock (@iamjohnpollock) June 29, 2016
'Stephanie McMahon: UFC fighters lose credibility upon defeat' When you've never watched MMA but still wanna talk about it
— Sean Halliday (@Linko64) June 29, 2016
