While the UFC now reigns as combat sports’ undisputed emperor, there was a time when this colossus stood on the brink of extinction. The late ’90s and early 2000s—now mythologized as ‘The Dark Ages’ of mixed martial arts—saw the promotion drowning in a perfect storm of catastrophe. Like a fighter caught in a crushing triangle choke, the UFC gasped for survival as it faced a three-pronged assault: mainstream rejection that branded it as a barrage of savages, political crusades led by Senator John McCain who termed it as “human cockfighting”, and a financial hemorrhage that threatened to bleed the company dry.

By 2005, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta had sunk nearly $40 million into their fighting experiment—a staggering sum that, adjusted for inflation, would make modern startups flinch. The promotion’s events played out in half-empty arenas, while PPV numbers remained so anemic they barely registered on the entertainment industry’s radar. This wasn’t merely a business struggle; this was a patient in critical condition with multiple organ failures.

Enter ‘The Ultimate Fighter!’ A reality television’s combat sports gambit that served as both a last-ditch effort and an unexpected defibrillator. The show’s inaugural finale delivered the now-legendary slug-fest between 205fers Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar—a brutal ballet of heart and determination that captivated nearly two million viewers and transformed casual observers into rabid fans overnight.

Yet the most fascinating question remains: Was the UFC’s doom truly inevitable? Or was this narrative of desperation partly crafted as the ultimate underdog origin story? While the financial struggles were undeniably real, the promotion’s leadership—particularly the marketing savant Dana White—understood something fundamental about American culture: nothing captures the public imagination like a comeback tale of near-death and miraculous resurrection.

But really! When did the UFC actually start making money? And if it was profitable, why did the original owners SEG (Semaphore Entertainment Group) sell the promotion for just $2 million to the new owners, Zuffa LLC? These questions popped up yet again after an exchange on X between the UFC co-founder and an MMA fan. Campbell McLaren cleared the air on what really led to the promotion’s sale at the end of the ’90s.

Responding to a tweet by @OdinFlokison, who asked, “How long has PFL been going and how long did it take the UFC to make a profit? pretty sure the UFC was sold after 8 years…” Campbell McLaren dropped a bombshell. “To clarify this — the UFC was very profitable at UFC 2. The reason it was sold in 1999 (after I left) for only $2mm was that Senator McCain had made it impossible to do live events in most states and had got it dropped from every platform except Directv.”

So, despite what many people think, the UFC wasn’t drowning financially. Instead, it was political pressure, not money problems, that forced the sale. McCain’s efforts got the sport banned from pay-per-view providers and blocked in many states. This made it nearly impossible for the UFC to operate. And yet, even as early as 1994, UFC 2 had already turned a profit. The problem wasn’t money, it was survival.

But McLaren’s insight doesn’t stop with the past. His then-involvement with potential investors adds another fascinating wrinkle to the UFC’s story. Speaking to Submission Radio, McLaren revealed, “I looked into potentially buying the UFC too with some very famous investment groups based in the US. We had what we thought was a tremendous offer, and it was $2.8 billion.”

At the time, financial analysts pegged the UFC’s pre-tax earnings at around $200 million annually, estimating its worth between $2.4 billion and $2.8 billion. It was a solid offer, but the Fertitta brothers didn’t seem interested. Lorenzo Fertitta believed the UFC still had massive untapped potential in markets like Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Turns out, he was right. By 2016, the UFC had grown into an absolute juggernaut. And eventually selling for an eye-watering $4 billion—nearly more than double McLaren’s 2016 bid. A key part of that transformation? None other than Dana White. He became the face of the UFC’s modern era and played a major role in its global expansion. But how did McLaren even get into the fight business in the first place?

How did the UFC’s beginnings take shape?

Campbell’s journey to building an MMA juggernaut started in a small Scottish mining village. Born in Cowie, near Stirling, Scotland, McLaren spent his early childhood immersed in a culture of resilience and community before his family moved to the U.S. when he was six. But despite growing up across the Atlantic, he never lost touch with his Scottish roots. Speaking on a recent trip back to Stirling, he reflected on how his upbringing shaped his approach to combat sports.

“It shaped how I saw competition, how I saw fighting, and how I saw the business itself,” McLaren shared. He credits the “underdog mentality” and “clan spirit” he experienced in Scotland as key influences. Not just in the UFC but his current MMA promotion, Combate Global. To him, MMA was always about bringing different fighting styles together. A concept he believes was fueled by the same grit and determination he saw growing up.

From a $2 million sale in 1999 to a record-breaking $4 billion deal in 2016, the UFC’s story is shifting perception. While McLaren wasn’t part of the Fertitta-led reinvention, his insights remind us that financial success was never the UFC’s problem. The regulatory hurdles were! And when the Fertitta brothers stepped in, the UFC entered a whole new chapter that would redefine combat sports forever.

Had things played out differently, maybe the UFC would have never been sold at all. Maybe its original founders could have built it into the global powerhouse we see today. But fate had other plans, and the Fertitta brothers along with the now CEO took the UFC to new heights.  What do you think? Could the UFC have reached its current heights under its original leadership? Or was the Fertitta-led transformation with Dana White at the helm always destined to happen? Let us know in the comments!