{"id":72465,"date":"2025-08-16T10:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T10:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/72465\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T10:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T10:15:12","slug":"henry-cejudo-predicts-mma-will-be-worlds-most-popular-sport-in-10-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/72465\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry Cejudo Predicts MMA Will Be World&#8217;s Most Popular Sport In 10, 15 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                          Henry Cejudo<br \/>\n                          MMA Will Be World&#8217;s Most Popular Sport<br \/>\n                          &#8230; Just Give It 10-15 Yrs<\/p>\n<p>\n                        Published August 16, 2025 12:50 AM PDT\n                                                                            <\/p>\n<p>            Play video content<\/p>\n<p>                    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2ed815b27c934432a1f3b647cadbacf1_md.jpg\" alt=\"henry-cejudo-kal-08-15-2025\" width=\"728\" height=\"410\" class=\"img-fluid\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                    TMZSports.com<\/p>\n<p>Mixed martial arts was BANNED in many places around the world not long ago &#8230; but the sport has grown at an electric pace, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/people\/henry-cejudo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Henry Cejudo<\/a> predicts it&#8217;ll soon be the biggest sport in the world!<\/p>\n<p>Triple C joined Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) &#8230; where the former champ-champ was asked about the UFC&#8217;s historic (and massive) $7.7 BILLION media rights deal with Paramount, and whether he could&#8217;ve ever imagined the sport reaching these heights.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20250815_a601680c6cf04752a7fb5ddd9d53b4ed\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:d13a1f19-edf1-474e-8800-4bcf0a27c966\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/a601680c6cf04752a7fb5ddd9d53b4ed_md.jpg\" alt=\"henry cejudo sub getty swipe\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No, I didn&#8217;t [imagine MMA could get this big],&#8221; the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer said.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"continued\" class=\"continued-anchor\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But at this point, I think the UFC, the sport of mixed martial arts, will become the biggest sport in the world in the next 10 years, maybe even 15 years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bigger than the footballs?!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Will it happen? Stay tuned &#8230; though it&#8217;s undeniable the sport has grown at a breakneck pace.<\/p>\n<p>            Play video content<\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/b59adea8242643ed8e50811efd208208_md.jpg\" alt=\"dana-white-kal-08-11-2025\" width=\"728\" height=\"410\" class=\"img-fluid\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                    TMZSports.com<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the promotion was founded in 1993 &#8230; and it was considered a pariah.<\/p>\n<p>In 2001, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/people\/dana-white\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dana White<\/a>, along with Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, bought the struggling organization for $2 million. A decade and a half later, in mid-2016, they sold the UFC to WME for over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2016\/07\/10\/ufc-sold-wme-img-dana-white\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$4 billion<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"media-link image-block__link js-track-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hulu.com\/series\/23adb4bd-b0fb-4697-900d-09ef393dc48e\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/6ec2f3bcae4444e287dca0db81485bfa_md.jpg\" alt=\"Huk Hogan-INLINE-HULU\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><br \/>\n                                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Less than 10 years later, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2025\/08\/11\/ufc-paramount-media-rights-deal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">nearly $8 billion<\/a> media deal was struck &#8230; plainly said, the UFC has been a rocket ship.<\/p>\n<p>One of the main reasons &#8212; highly anticipated events like UFC 319, featuring a potential Fight of the Year contender, middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis vs. undefeated challenger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/people\/khamzat-chimaev\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Khamzat Chimaev<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_jpg_20250815_434851ae20f14001b0d506605a53bb56\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:d13a1f19-edf1-474e-8800-4bcf0a27c966\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/434851ae20f14001b0d506605a53bb56_md.jpg\" alt=\"Dricus Du Plessis  Khamzat Chimaev sub getty swipe\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Check out the full interview with Cejudo &#8212; he breaks down exactly how and when each man can win, and also answers the question &#8230; will he ever fight again!?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Henry Cejudo MMA Will Be World&#8217;s Most Popular Sport &#8230; Just Give It 10-15 Yrs Published August 16,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,44,85,635,26898],"class_list":["post-72465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-tmz-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}