Alalshikh, UFC's Dana White join forces for new boxing promotion

Still unnamed company has big plans, but won't debut until 2026

Dan Rafael

Mar 06, 2025

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“This landmark partnership between industry powerhouses sets the stage for an unparalleled experience for boxers and fans,” Alalshikh said. “Together, we are developing the next generation of talent and delivering world-class events at a time when the sport is primed for further disruption.”

Alalshikh has already become heavily involved in boxing through his oversight of Riyadh Season by delivering a series of major fights cards beginning with Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou in October 2023 and also including Fury-Oleksandr Usyk I and II and Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol I and II. There have also several other been deep cards, including ones involving Anthony Joshua and Terence Crawford and upcoming events planned with headliners Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia.

In November, Alalshikh also bought the 103-year-old Ring magazine and its world titles from Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya and is using it to brand boxing events.

While the new venture not only does not have a name yet, it does not have a broadcast deal in place or any fighters signed to the company. But it did promise “a highly structured system to develop new talent from around the world, including athlete combines and academies” as well as “access for all boxers to the UFC Performance Institute, the world’s leading combat sports performance training, research, rehabilitation, and nutrition center, featuring locations in Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Shanghai.”

It also plans to use the “promotional expertise of UFC and WWE to create both unforgettable in-arena experiences and top-tier, state-of-the-art broadcasts distributed to fans around the world.”

‘He and I are very aligned in our outlook on boxing,’ — Dana White on Turki Alalshikh

White will be the front man for the promotion and plans to bring his larger-than-life personality to its events as he does with the UFC now that he has finally made the move into boxing that he has talked about for so long.

“I’ve looked into it a lot and sort of played with it and literally every time I got on the phone with a boxing guy I would literally say, ‘why the hell am I doing this. This is insane. Why would I put myself through this,’” White told Fight Freaks Unite on Wednesday. “And everything in life, and definitely everything in my life, comes down to timing.

“I know a lot of people will talk about money, but I got money, I could go out and raise money, I had raised the money at one time, and I do everything by gut, and it just didn’t feel right to me (about getting into boxing before).”

But White said that changed when Khan, who has done WWE business with Alalshikh, introduced them about 18 months ago. Khan, who will also be heavily involved in the boxing venture, has ample experience on the business side as the former co-head of TV at Creative Artists Agency, where he represented a slew of top broadcasters and writers and negotiated media rights deals for WWE (before joining the company), the Southeastern Conference and Top Rank’ deal with ESPN that expires at the end of July. He also used to co-manage Hall of Famers Manny Pacquiao and James Toney.

“Over the last year and half (Alalshikh) and I have created a relationship to the point where not only do I like him, I trust him I’ve done business with him, and he and I are very aligned in our outlook on boxing,” White said. “And this was the right time, the right place, and the right people to do it with. … We are aligned in what we want to do in the sport and we ended up getting a deal done.”

White acknowledged that the announcement of the deal came with little detail and that “there’s still a lot of work to be done,” but he vowed it was “legit.”

Among his first orders of business is lock down a media rights partner, which will go a long way to determining the level of activity.

“If you wanted to ask me how many fights we’re doing to a year it would depend on who we do a deal with, what they’re looking for,” White said. “We will go in, we will cut a deal with somebody and we’ll basically build this thing around what they need for programming.”

For Saudi Arabia, it is the latest of its government’s many investments in various sports properties. TKO has no financial risk since it is being paid by the Saudis to run the operation.

“This is a strategic opportunity to re-imagine the sport of boxing globally,” said TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro. “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.”

(Editor’s note: Khan was this reporter’s agent from 2006 to 2020.)

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