The UFC and WWE each rolled out their new digital online networks just days apart, with the UFC revealing Fight Pass and the WWE announcing the launching of its WWE Network, but there are a lot of differences between the two products and UFC President Dana White thinks that WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon's idea for his network is "ridiculous."
The WWE announced at a press conference in Las Vegas earlier this month that their network will launch on Feb. 24 in the U.S. and other countries, and will cost $9.99 just like the UFC's Fight Pass. The WWE's network will offer past pay-per-view events and television shows while it will also have original content on it. To add even more to it, the WWE is offering every pay-per-view in 2014 for no additional cost with a subscription to the service.
According to Fox Sports, the question was posed to White over whether or not he'd offer his pay-per-views on their Fight Pass network along with a subscription, and White believed that McMahon was crazy to put his pay-per-views on there for just $9.99 a month.
"It's ridiculous. I hate to sound like I'm attacking the WWE or (I) devalue what they did because Vince McMahon, say whatever you want -- and he's always smashing us and talking s-t about us, but I will tell you this, I was watching WWE I was a little kid and Vince was the commentator in WWE -- this guy has been kicking ass, breaking rules and doing things that people said he couldn't do over and over and over again, White said Monday via Fox Sports. "Now I'm older I don't get the whole thing, it doesn't work for me, but what he's able to do, the ratings he's able to pull and the things he's done ... And when I look at his model and he's basically taking everything in and devalued it. Saying everything we do is worth $10. That doesn't make sense to me."
While White believes it's crazy, he also knows that McMahon is a smart businessman and may be able to pull it off.
"If he pulls in two million subscribers, he's crushing it," he said per Fox Sports. "So it's a risky move, it's a crazy move, but Vince has been doing risky, crazy s-t since the beginning of time. If anybody can do it, maybe Vince can do it."
There are multiple takes on the WWE's move, with one school of thought being that the WWE offering their pay-per-views for just $9.99 a month could detract from people wanting to spend $50 on UFC pay-per-views, while the other suggests that the WWE pay-per-views being so cheap could lead to people having more money to spend on UFC fights.
White doesn't believe that there is too much crossover between WWE and UFC fans so he doesn't foresee there being too much of an impact either way, while he noted that when Brock Lesnar was part of the UFC there was some crossover.
"I've always thought that we don't correlate with WWE," White told Fox Sports. "You're more inclined to be a boxing and UFC fan than a boxing, UFC and wrestling fan. Because wrestling is fake, it's scripted, it's completely different. We had a ton of WWE crossover when Brock was here."
White believes that McMahon is smart, but also feels as though he is crazy since he is giving away the pay-per-views for such little money and he also thinks he's just crazy in general.
"Vince is 70-something years old. Listen, all the respect in the world to the guy, he's done great stuff, but he's a maniac, he's a legitimate maniac," White said on The Arsenio Hall Show. "He literally calls me one day and says 'Hey what about you and I fight', he's like 'We can fight in the UFC or we can wrestle in the WWE, either way.' I'm like, 'You're a maniac.'"
When the WWE Network launches on Feb. 24, it will be known for sure just how crazy McMahon is.
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