The deal
TKO Group, the Endeavor-controlled ownership vehicle of MMA promotion UFC and wrestling promotion WWE, and Saudi Arabian events company Sela have partnered to launch a new boxing league that will serve as a platform for top boxers and emerging talent.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The league will look to sign between 150 and 160 boxers and be structured the same way as UFC, with several weight classes and its own title belts. Fighters will have to face each other to move up the rankings.
The boxers will gain access to the UFC Performance Institute, which offers state-of-the-art training facilities in Las Vegas (US), Mexico City (Mexico), and Shanghai (China).
TKO, led by UFC chief executive Dana White and TKO board member Nick Khan, will oversee the league’s day-to-day operations and athlete development, including access to training, performance research, and rehabilitation through its UFC Performance Institute.
The league will also have access to TKO’s production, media, and promotional expertise to deliver both in-arena experience and broadcasts globally.
Sela, the entertainment subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will, meanwhile, focus on promoting and delivering major boxing events. It previously staged a high-profile bout between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium, which set a UK attendance record.
Sela and TKO are partnering in this deal with Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, who has become a significant figure in boxing over the last few years, pledging to fix what he describes as a “broken” sport by offering huge prize purses for fights.
Before the TKO agreement, he brokered a multi-fight deal with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in February. He also helped deliver long-awaited bouts including Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk and Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol.
Announcing the partnership, TKO president Mark Shapiro said: “This is a strategic opportunity to reimagine the sport of boxing globally.
“TKO has the deep expertise, promotional prowess, and longstanding relationships. Turki Alalshikh and Sela share our passion and vision for evolving the current model. Together, we can bring the sweet science back to its rightful place in the forefront of the global sports ecosystem.”
Why it matters
The league has been born out of frustrations with how fragmented the sport has become and the political nature of the rankings.
There are four worldwide sanctioning bodies who organize the fights creating an alphabet soup of bodies all working separately: the World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
Each of these sanctioning bodies has its own boxing belts respectively, meaning that in all 17 weight divisions, there can be four different world champions in a weight class at any given time.
Then you have regular, interim, and diamond straps, which for fans and casual viewers alike, can be confusing.
Additionally, fans have been starved of watching some of the best fights due to promotional contracts and exclusive television deals.
The new league is looking to address these issues by adopting a streamlined structure, with one undisputed champion per division and talent development that will be nurtured through academies.
Meanwhile, UFC’s White has been vocal over the years about his desire to enter boxing but previously complained that the structure of boxing had made it impossible.
Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis at GlobalData Sport, commented: “TKO’s announcement that it is entering the world of boxing may be the shake up the fading sport needs. Partnering with Sela, TKO has handed the reigns of the new venture to Dana White, hoping he will be able to replicate the success of UFC in a new hand-to-hand combat venture.
“Boxing has long suffered from the diverse interests at the top of the sport, with the different federations, assorted promoters, and multiple governing bodies all having their own agendas. This has meant that fans get short-changed, with key fights not happening at the right time, which in turn impacts the ability of the sport to generate commercial revenues from media and sponsorship rights.
“Whatever criticisms can be leveled at White, his ability to put on attractive, commercially successful cards in UFC, even without high profile, household name stars, means he is well placed to revolutionize the sport of boxing. As TKO has proved with WWE and UFC, if they have a strong product, they will monetize it effectively.”
The details
Details of the league at the time of the announcement were scant but have since been drip-fed to the media by White, who has been doing the rounds to the press during the week.
It is understood that all current operating weight classes will feature in the promotion, meaning 17 leagues will be staged. Previously there were eight divisions in boxing but that has been expanded over the years.
While TKO and Sela have not announced any fighters for the new league, they will likely try to sign some big names in the business to hit the ground running. However, this may prove tricky due to existing contractual arrangements that the best fighters have with their promoters and broadcasters.
Locations of the fights have also not been disclosed, but it is more than likely Saudi Arabia will play host to the bigger events, having done so in the past and also being the league’s bankrollers.
The response from the rival sanctioning bodies, meanwhile, has been pragmatic rather than combative, given Saudi Arabia’s power within the sport.
As golf’s PGA Tour found out with the creation of the PIF-backed LIV Golf tour, trying to rally against the wishes of sports’ biggest investors can be expensive and ultimately futile.
When asked about his views, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman stated: “I have absolutely no concern or no negative views whatsoever [about TKO’s boxing league].
“I think anything that comes into boxing is sensational. I know a lot of people […] started speculating and finding conspiracy theories or whatever, but absolutely not.
“I think the WBC should make its position public, which is [that this] is a good opportunity, because we have always supported any movement, any company, any tournaments that have been put together.”
With so much money behind it and the entertainment experience of TKO, the league is likely to succeed but it may also cause even more fragmentation within the sport with two competing leagues – one that will have a single champions and belts that fights within its sphere and the other involving sanctioning bodies working with promoters that are not working with TKO.
The real winners of the project will be the fighters, who will see more opportunities.
Meanwhile, the project will be a test case of what the sport can look like when money and power are centralized. As with other sports, the two different leagues may end up amalgamating under one banner.
