Could Zuffa and the UFC Go Under?

As usual, I was checking on Yard Barker to see if my friend Georges St. Pierre had written a new blog, and I came across an article that truly scared me senseless.

Lyman Hoyt wrote a very cogent article titled "Affliction's Atencio: Station Casinos in Financial Trouble? Where is the Media?" that appears "en toto" in the Sav Sci Blog.

I am not a math wizard and hate dealing with numbers and finances. My husband does all of our accounting and, since we eat regularly, I believe him when he tells me we are still doing OK.

Mr. Lyman has researched the numbers and gives reputable sources for his financial assessment of this situation, so I will not even try to duplicate his facts here.

I will, however tell you why I am frightened by the implications of his article and findings.

Station Casinos is the Fertitta brothers' primary business enterprise and source of income. Now that times are tough and the economy has been turned upside down and inside out, their "debt load" is $5.3 billion on Station Casinos, which is an unimaginable amount of money to someone like me.

Tom Atencio is concerned that all the MMA media was very quick to quote Dana White when he asserted that "Affliction would be out of business by the end of January 2009," but has not yet reported the financial difficulties of the Station Casinos which could potentially have a huge, very devastating affect on the Zuffa Company and, consequently, cause the UFC to go out of business, as Atencio suggested "by the end of February 2009."

The Las Vegas Review Journal was the source of the financial information that has been released about the Station Casinos, but none of the MMA media has followed up on this, leaving one to ponder if what Atencio believes in is true; that the MMA media "and one particular popular MMA reporter" have been bought off and are in the UFC's/Dana White's pocket.

An interesting dilemma that puts the frenzied rush to sell the UFC's superfights a new meaning, and perhaps explains the large amount of fighters being cut.

My point being: If the UFC went under, what would Grandma Dee do?