Lorenzo Joseph Fertitta and his older brother Frank Fertitta III became known for their successes in Nevada's casino and hotel industry. The brothers worked in and inherited Station Casinos from ...Show More
Lorenzo Joseph Fertitta and his older brother Frank Fertitta III became known for their successes in Nevada's casino and hotel industry. The brothers worked in and inherited Station Casinos from their father, Frank Fertitta Jr. Their father started in the casino business in 1960 as a bellman at Tropicana Hotel and Casino. Fertitta Jr. also worked as baccarat manager, dealer, pit boss and general manager until he helped create the Casino in 1976, later renamed it Bingo Palace, then Palace Station, and finally Station Casinos. They also attended boxing matches with their father and became fans of the sport. Lorenzo first studied business at the University of San Diego, and later graduated with a Master's in Business Administration from New York University. The Fertitta brothers sought to create their own companies apart from their father's. They first established a company together which rented pay phones. They went from the pay phone renting business to leasing poker machines to bars, and eventually started buying bars to place these machines. In the early 1990s the duo went on buying lots of real estate property where they would have future casinos constructed.Fertitta first found out about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in 1995 through a reunion at a wedding with an old friend from Bishop Gorman High School, Dana White. White primarily managed boxers but also had some MMA fighters as clients. Lorenzo and his brother were boxing fans from attending events with their father. It was through that fandom, the younger Fertitta became a member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) in November1996. While a part of NSAC, Fertitta attended his first MMA event, UFC 21: Return of the Champions (1999), at the invitation of Robert B. Meyrowitz. Meyrowitz was the President of Semaphore Entertainment Group and owner of UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship (2000). Meyrowitz wanted MMA to become legal in Nevada. Veteran fighter and fellow Las Vegas resident John Lewis was in the corner of Andre Pederneiras. There, Fertitta and Lewis met, and Fertitta later took private Brazilian Jiu Jiutsu lessons from Lewis. Frank Fertitta III and Dana White also became students of Lewis. Fertitta left the NSAC to become President of Station Casinos in July 2000. Through his perspective as an athletic commission member, Fertitta concluded boxing had too many problems for him and his brother to get involved with as a business. The following November he began conversations with Robert B. Meyrowitz about selling Ultimate Fighting Championship. Meyrowitz, originally seeking an investment partner, later agreed to sell. The Fertitta brothers became equal majority owners of a new company, Zuffa LLC. They gave Dana White ten percent ownership, and the title of President. Lorenzo Fertitta took the positions of Chairman and CEO. Fertitta decided to focus on UFC full-time when he resigned as President of Station Casinos on June 19, 2008.On January 9, 2001, Zuffa bought UFC for $2 million. Frank Fertitta III would take the least role in UFC operations to concentrate on operating the family's casinos and hotels.Larry Hazzard Sr. was approached about allowing Zuffa to have its first card promoted under its ownership of UFC. Hazzard, Commissioner of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB), approved, resulting in UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk (2001). With NJSACB's sanction of the still controversial sport, it helped soften the anti-MMA opposition among other athletic commissions in the United States. By 2004, over $30 million had been lost in UFC, and Lorenzo and his brother felt an increased television presence would fix the problem. They proposed a program named The Ultimate Fighter (2005) to different networks, which declined. They approached Spike TV, a channel aimed at a male audience, which accepted their $10 million offer to buy airtime for The Ultimate Fighter (2005). The concept was that two-well known fighters would coach rival teams of fighters competing to win a UFC contract and the title of Ultimate Fighter. The coaches would eventually fighter each other at a UFC event. In the first season, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell coached against each other. Production of the The Ultimate Fighter (2005) went from September through October 2004, and aired in 2005. The show was a ratings success for Spike TV. During the live The Ultimate Fighter (2005)(TV), a light-heavyweight fight between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar drew many viewers. Griffin won the judge's decision to become the first Ultimate Fighter and won a UFC contract. After speaking with Lorenzo, Dana White gave Bonnar a UFC contract. Kevin Kay, Spike TV's President, was in attendance and decided to continue future seasons of The Ultimate Fighter (2005). Instead of UFC paying for air-time, over some years Spike TV would pay UFC many millions of dollars for the rights to The Ultimate Fighter (2005).In March 2011, Zuffa purchased UFC's rival and number two promotion, Strikeforce (2009). Strikeforce CEO 'Scott Coker' (I) was retained with a three-year contact. The Fertitta brothers and White made bigger news that year as a result of negotiations with Fox Sports Media Group's Chairman and CEO, David Hill. Zuffa made a deal with Fox Broadcasting reportedly worth $700 million for a period of seven years to air UFC events. UFC pay-per-view events would operate outside the agreement with Fox Broadcasting. Exactly eighteen years after Sempahore Entertainment Group and WOW Promotions promoted UFC 1: The Beginning (1993), UFC's first Fox card happened on November 12, 2011. In the main event of UFC on Fox: UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos (2011), Junior Dos Santos knocked out UFC heavyweight champion 'Cain Velasquez' (I) in sixty-one seconds to win the title. The Fertitta family had additional goods news that year when Station Casinos emerged from bankruptcy filed in 2009.UFC launched its paid subscription service Fight Pass in 2013. Fight Pass allowed subscribers access to the UFC's entire video library, and those of other MMA organizations it had acquired. Subscribers could also watch all of the company's live Pay-Per-View events, and non-combat events. Pay-Per-View remained an option to for viewers who did not have Fight Pass. Lorenzo Fertitta discussed wanting UFC to be like the National Fight League in some ways, and that influenced the decision to adopt fighter uniforms. In 2014, UFC made a deal for Reebok to design and become the exclusive provider of fighter clothing during competition and certain promotional appearances. Fighters would earn money through the Reebok deal based on the amount of fights they had in their professional careers. Champions would be paid the highest. Some fighters and coaches complained that the deal would limit their income because their sponsors paid more than under the UFC/Reebok structure. Other fighters welcomed the change, saying it made the sport looked more professional, guaranteed sponsorship money, and saved time in finding sponsors. The Reebok uniforms made their debut at [ ] in July 2015.In December 2015, Fertitta told CNN that 2015 was UFC's biggest revenue generating year with $600 million. Fertitta said it was the result of its pay-per-views, television deals, and the UFC Fight Pass subscription service. There was news a month later that Fertitta and Frank Fertitta had filed papers to sell Fertitta Entertainment to Station Casinos for $460 million. Each brother would reportedly receive $113 million from the sale, $159 million would go to their children, and the remaining $188 million would go to company executives. Additional good news for the Fertittas came later when New York legalized professional MMA. For many years Zuffa spent millions of dollars lobbying and contributing to New York politicians to legalize professional MMA in that state. The Culinary Union had invested resources to oppose Zuffa's efforts in New York to pressure the Fertitta family to unionize their casinos in Las Vegas. In November 2011, Zuffa filed a federal lawsuit against New York's ban. Zuffa lost that case in 2015, and was in the midst of another lawsuit when New York legislatively approved professional MMA. On July 11, 2016, Fertitta did an interview with a local Las Vegas TV station confirming months of rumors that UFC had been sold. Under the terms, Fertitta said William Morris Endeavor-International Marketing Group (WME-IMG) would become majority owner. Fertitta would resign as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while he and Frank Fertitta would have a minority share. Dana White would continue on as President and his longtime minority portion would stay the same. Reports prior and after Fertitta's announcement state that WME-IMG won a bid for UFC by offering $4 billion. Hide
