Dana White has promised boxers a new deal, but the contract he is offering appears worse than the old one. Critics question whether Congress will grant Zuffa the power to dominate boxing.
Even Turki al-Sheikh's harshest critics acknowledge that Saudi interests have paid generous purses to fighters. Now the Saudis have turned to TKO Group Holdings and Dana White to oversee Zuffa Boxing, a new vehicle designed to expand its equity partners' footprint in the United States. Zuffa Boxing is taking a far less generous approach than Sheikh did, as evidenced by the contract many fighters are being asked to sign.
TKO Group Holdings, which owns UFC and WWE, announced on 6 August last year that it was forming Zuffa Boxing as a joint venture with the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority and Sela. The company plans to promote approximately 12 league fight cards annually for five years, alongside super-fights promoted with Sheikh. Dana White has been charged with overseeing Zuffa Boxing, saying his goal is to rebuild boxing in the United States.
On 29 September, Zuffa Boxing and Paramount announced a media rights agreement making Paramount+ the exclusive home of Zuffa Boxing in the US, Canada and Latin America, starting in January 2026. Paramount is believed to be paying $100m a year for 12 fight cards. However, Zuffa's program as currently conceived runs afoul of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, so Zuffa and its allies have launched a lobbying effort to change the law.
The proposed legislation would water down several provisions of the Ali Act, allowing for the creation of unified boxing organizations (UBOs) as an alternative compliance system. Zuffa Boxing could qualify as a UBO, destroying the firewall between ratings organisations, managers and promoters. Fighters would be in the dark about how much revenue promoters are generating, as the Ali Act's financial disclosure requirements would be weakened.
