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American Top Team Owner Dan Lambert Discusses Almost Buying The UFC

July 23, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka

– American Top Team owner Dan Lambert recently spoke with mmajunkie.com

On Trying To Buy The UFC: “(The UFC) had gotten yanked off the pay-per-view platform they were on, and they were finally at a situation where they’d gotten one of the athletic commissions, New Jersey, to provisionally sanction one event, and representatives from the Nevada commission were going to come and watch the event. It was hopefully going to be a springboard to get regulated, which would hopefully allow the promotion to get back on pay-per-view, which was the primary revenue source. But Bob had run out of money, and he was in a bind.”

On The Deal He Was Putting Together: “Perretti and I were going to own 51 percent of the company, and put a certain amount of money in escrow to hopefully fund the company for the years we thought it might take to get regulated and get back on pay-per-view,” Lambert said. “The way it happened, we signed a contract, I put up the money, (and) the down payment was going to fund that New Jersey show so it did not get held up, and we went through the regular due diligence and exchange of information.”

On Not Really Wanting To Own The UFC: “I wasn’t really looking to own the UFC; I just didn’t want to see it go out of business because I like having a promotion for my guys to have fights in,” Lambert said. “So it kind of worked out for me – the best of both worlds. They took it over. They did things with it that never would have happened, in my opinion, if those guys weren’t at the helm. We ended up with a spot in the sport and a ride that’s been pretty fun.”

article topics :

Dan Lambert, UFC, Larry Csonka