TKO Group Holdings, which owns the UFC and WWE, has launched a brand new boxing promotion backed by funding from Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom has invested closely in boxing in recent times with Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s common leisure authority, at the fore.
The UFC and WWE, who merged in a £17.3bn deal below the TKO umbrella in 2023, additionally maintain occasions within the Kingdom.
In a joint assertion. Alalshikh and TKO mentioned they’d agreed a “multi-year partnership to ascertain a brand new boxing promotion”.
It’s unclear what the league would appear to be and who would compete in it, with most of boxing’s largest stars below contract with key promoters similar to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, Bob Arum’s Prime Rank and Frank Warren’s Queensberry.
Below the brand new promotion, TKO will function the managing accomplice on day-to-day operations, with UFC president Dana White and WWE president and TKO board member Nick Khan positioned in “government management” roles.
“This can be a strategic alternative to reimagine the game of boxing globally,” TKO president and chief working officer Mark Shapiro mentioned.
Saudi affect in boxing has elevated considerably over current years, with lots of the sport’s largest playing cards happening within the Kingdom, together with Tyson Fury’s two heavyweight bouts towards Oleksandr Usyk in 2024.
Occasions have additionally featured exterior of Saudi below the ‘Riyadh Season’ banner, with Terence Crawford headlining a card in Los Angeles and Daniel Dubois topping the invoice at Wembley.
Saudi Arabia has spent about £5bn in sport since 2021, saying the funding is getting used to diversify its financial system away from a dependency on oil.
Nonetheless, critics counsel the Kingdom’s spending – which incorporates the creation of a breakaway golf circuit, the LIV Golf League, by its Public Funding Fund – is to realize legitimacy and deflect consideration from controversy over its human rights report, a observe often called ‘sportswashing’.
