Turki Alalshikh and TKO Announce New Boxing Promotion
Turki Alalshikh, TKO Group Holdings, and Saudi entertainment company Sela announced a multi-year partnership on March 5, 2025, to establish a new professional boxing promotion. The agreement put TKO in charge of day-to-day operations, with UFC President and CEO Dana White and WWE President Nick Khan anchoring the promotion’s executive leadership. At launch, the partners described the project’s goals and services, but did not reveal its name, roster, first event, venues, or schedule. TKO’s announcement said those details would come later.
A three-party partnership
The new venture brought together TKO, the company behind the UFC and WWE, Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, and Sela, a Saudi company backed by the Public Investment Fund. Sela had already helped stage major international boxing events, including Terence Crawford’s 2024 fight with Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles and Anthony Joshua’s bout with Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium.
TKO was designated managing partner and would provide operational management and oversight. White and Khan were named to the leadership team, while TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro described the partnership as an effort to reshape boxing’s global model. The announcement established who would run the project, but did not disclose its financing terms or a complete organizational structure.
Talent development and performance support
The plan outlined three main components. First, the promotion said it would build a structured path for developing boxers internationally, including athlete combines and academies. Second, boxers would receive access to the UFC Performance Institute, which offers training, research, rehabilitation, and nutrition support at locations in Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Shanghai. Third, TKO would contribute production, media, and promotional experience for live events and broadcasts.
Those commitments offered an early picture of the proposed operation: talent identification, centralized performance resources, and event presentation under one partnership. The release did not explain how fighters would be recruited, whether the venture would sign prospects or established champions, or how bouts would fit around existing promotional contracts. It also did not specify a ranking system, championship format, weight classes, or broadcast partners.
Key details still pending
When the deal was announced, boxing fans had plenty of unanswered questions. The partners had not confirmed any fighter signings, fight dates, venues, host cities, or the promotion’s official name. TKO’s statement promised more information in the coming months, so the announcement was a framework for a new enterprise rather than a launch card or complete competition plan.
That distinction mattered because the project was entering a sport with established promoters, broadcasters, sanctioning bodies, and existing fighter agreements. The partnership brought together a prominent Saudi boxing organizer and a company with large-scale combat sports and entertainment operations, but its competitive impact would depend on the details still to come. CBS Sports’ report on the announcement likewise noted that the first public details centered on leadership and the proposed development and production model.
The announcement marked White’s formal move into professional boxing after years of discussing the possibility. For Alalshikh and Sela, it extended their collaboration with TKO into a dedicated promotional venture. Whether the project could deliver regular top-level fights, develop new talent, and attract audiences would become clearer only after its roster, schedule, and event plans were made public.
The promotion moved from announcement to launch
By January 2026, the unnamed venture had taken the name Zuffa Boxing and moved into live events. Its first card, held at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas on Jan. 23, was headlined by Callum Walsh against Carlos Ocampo and streamed on Paramount+, according to the official event results. TKO later described the new promotion’s launch as a completed milestone in its full-year 2025 results.
The debut supplies the concrete follow-through missing from the March 2025 announcement: the project acquired a name, a first event and a broadcast platform. The original partnership release still serves as the record of who formed the venture and the talent-development and performance-support plans they announced. The first card demonstrates the operational launch, while questions about long-term recruitment, championship structure and how the venture will work alongside boxing’s existing organizations remain broader issues for its next stage.
The video below features coverage of the announcement and the partners’ plans.
