Quick Thoughts On Recent Events In MMA (4/6/10)

As I've been busy and haven't written in a while, here are my quick thoughts regarding the world of MMA:

Aldo v. Faber

I was very excited for the Aldo v. Faber fight until I learned that it will be on PPV. What's up with that, WEC? My cable bill is already topping $200 since I’m averaging two UFC purchases…not sure if I can handle much more. I’ll probably end of buying this one (reluctantly) because I’m a big fan of Aldo and predict he will take out Faber in the early rounds. However, I can’t forsee coughing up additional dollars for future cards.

Zuffa Taps the Debt Capital Markets

I recently received a loan market update from a large bank (public information) and as I was flipping through the presentation I noticed Zuffa as an issuer of $71mm under the recent dividend transaction section. For those who don’t know, Zuffa is the parent of the UFC & WEC. Interesting to note because the leveraged loan market remains challenging, especially if the purpose of the offering is a recapitalization/dividend. Looks like the Fertitta brothers are taking a little cash off the table. Other facts are that Zuffa is rated Ba3/BB- and has total leverage of approx. 3.4x. Further, it has a $100.0mm 1st lien tranche (pricing unknown) and $100.0mm institutional tranche (L+550bps).

Quick Observations on Watching UFC 111 Live

Mike A. (co-editor of UFCBanter.com) and I enjoyed watching UFC 111 live in Newark. Two thoughts: 1. As expected, favorite part of the evening was watching Mir v. Carwin. Carwin is a beast and it was fun watching the big boys in action; and 2. I was impressed with Hardy because of his fitness, resiliency, and size, but underimpressed with GSP given his inability to finish & overall lackluster performance.

-Andrew