During the TKO Quarterly Investors Call (via Fightful), TKO President Mark Shapiro said Vince McMahon only wanted UFC as part of the TKO merger and PBO was never involved in negotiations.
He said: “With regard to PBR specifically, that was just never in the cards. We were negotiating with Vince McMahon at the time. From day one, he was only open to doing this merger, if you will, if it was these two properties. Period, end of story. There was no discussion on PBR. That’s the reason why that happened.“