Along with AEW, Tony Khan has his hands in a lot of sports ventures and could possibly be putting his money in the MMA octagon.
According to Ariel Helwani on this week’s “MMA Hour,”Tony Khan along with his father Shad are one of the several interested parties in purchasing Bellator MMA. Other names in the mix are Professional Fighters League (PFL), which has backed in and out of interest, and Liberty Media, one of the companies who were reportedly interested in purchasing WWE.
Helwani does clarify that he’s uncertain to the level that Khans are interested in currently acquiring Bellator MMA, but if they were to spend the cash they’d be purchasing from Paramount Global, who has held majority ownership since 2011.
Bellator MMA Shares Pro Wrestling Ties With Tony Khan
While Tony Khan owns a wrestling company, Bellator MMA played host to many stars of the squared circle. Back in the early 2010s, Kurt Angle and Booker T both made appearances for the promotion and Bobby Lashley actually competed in the cage under the Bellator banner. Angle actually got close to doing the same back in 2015 with other WWE alumni Ken Shamrock, but decided against doing so. IMPACT Wrestling also enjoyed a little crossover with Bellator back in the latter’s early stages, with acts like Tito Ortiz and King Mo making their presence felt in TNA.
Khan’s supposed interest in purchasing an MMA entity could find its parallels to WWE. Vince McMahon’s baby is now under the same umbrella as UFC after Endeavor made a $9 billion deal to purchase the company back in April.
H/t to Wrestling Observer.