Dana White, Turki Alalshikh Launch Boxing Promotion

Dana White, Turki Alalshikh Launch Boxing Promotion

Dana White is officially in the boxing business. The UFC CEO is launching a boxing promotion in partnership with Turki Alalshikh and Sela. The promotion will be under the TKO Group Holdings alongside the UFC and WWE.

White announced his partnership with Alalshikh on social media.

The TKO Group Holdings boxing promotion will have heavy ties to Saudi Arabia. Alalshikh is an advisor to the Saudi Arabian Royal Court and the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority. Sela is a Saudi Arabian entertainment and hospitality company.

Alalshikh has been heavily invested in boxing in recent years. This has largely come in the form of hosting boxing events in Saudi Arabia. The movement has helped boxing book high-quality fights including undisputed title fights between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury as well as Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.

WWE President Nick Khan will work alongside White to help run the promotion.

White and TKO Holdings Group plan to make massive changes to the sport of boxing to completely change the sport’s landscape.

“You have to break the sport down and build it from the ground up,” White told Front Office Sports. “Everybody involved here realizes that you can’t keep going on the same model that boxing has been on.” 

White’s new boxing endeavor will attempt to copy certain elements of the UFC format. The most important will be that boxers will sign exclusive deals with TKO Holding Group to compete in the promotion. This will allow the promotion to create a roster and consistenly book fights. That alters the format of the sport as boxers would start from the bottom of the promotion and work to the top. It should also help boxers compete more consistenly.

“You know the format and everybody knows the format,” White said. “The best fight the best and work their way up the rankings. Once somebody breaks into the top five, there’s no question who the five best guys are in the weight class and they fight it out. Once somebody holds that belt, you don’t need three letters in front of the belt. Whoever holds the belt is the best in that weight class. It’s a very simple model.”

The deciding factor in White’s vision will depend on the promotion’s ability to get the best boxers to sign with the promotion. The structure works with the UFC because the majority of the best MMA fighters in the world are signed to the promotion. That will have to hold true for TKO Group Holding’s boxing promotion to reach the same levels of success. Otherwise, it will intensify the issues in the boxing world.

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