UFC Chief Says Bob Iger Is a “Freak,” Wants to Work With Disney Anyway

The Walt Disney Company is developing a pretty bad reputation for playing nice with others, but that won’t bother the UFC. If anything, he likes that Disney CEO Bob Iger is a bit of a “freak.”

To be very specific, when TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro discussed his future dealings with Disney with Deadline, he was talking about Bob Iger being a “sports freak.”

Still, it is a pretty weird way to talk about the head of one of the most powerful companies in the world and a major distribution partner for TKO Holdings, which owns both World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Related: Fox Anchor Sean Hannity Slams Bob Iger, Suggests Disney Doesn’t Want Conservatives in Its Parks

Mark Shapiro opened up about his long association with Bob Iger, saying he “would also tell you that, you know, it’s rare when you have a CEO of a major media company that gets so granularly involved on all levels of content. And that’s what Bob Iger does… He’s a sports freak. He now owns a women’s soccer team in the NWSL with his wife, Willow [Bay]. He came up through ABC Sports, is a huge boxing fan. And, when I worked at ESPN, there wasn’t a Monday morning I didn’t get notes on sports content for the weekend while he was running Disney.”

UFC currently has a broadcast deal with ESPN, the Disney-owned sports network that has become a disproportionally important aspect of the Mouse House. Through 2025, the popular mixed martial arts league is heavily featured on the channel, and it appears that, due in part to Bob Iger’s freakiness, that is likely to continue.

Shapiro said, “It is our intention to re-sign with ESPN and Disney because they’ve shown that they do it best. They understand synergy. They understand marketing. They do a great job technologically, with developing their platforms, engaging their consumers. And, of course, ESPN flagship, which is their direct-to-consumer, is on the way. So we’re anxious to see what that’s all about and where we can fit in there.”

Related: Fired Disney CEO Bob Chapek Publicly Emerges, Attacks Bob Iger

This is particularly notable because Disney is having a hard time actually keeping partnerships together these days. Venu Sports, the joint venture between the Mouse, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox, has been shut down before its attempt to corner the streaming sports market by a federal judge, leaving the three companies in legal limbo.

At the same time, the carriage agreement between Disney and DirecTV has expired, leaving millions of subscribers without access to numerous satellite channels, including ESPN.

Despite that, it appears that UFC is ready to keep working with Disney and ESPN. It turns out that being a “sports freak” can actually help with things sometimes.

What programs do you watch on ESPN?