HE Turki Alalshikh on Wednesday announced the creation of a new boxing promotion alongside TKO – the conglomerate that comprises UFC and WWE – with executive leadership anchored by UFC president Dana White and WWE president Nick Khan.
While a name for the new venture was not disclosed, the promotion did announce a plan to stage its first boxing event in 2026 and include a “highly structured system to develop new talent from around the world, including athlete combines and academies.”
Boxers will have access to the state-of-the-art UFC Performance Institute, with locations in Las Vegas, Mexico City and Shanghai. And it will be TKO’s production and media team that will handle in-arena experience and worldwide broadcasts.
“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 primer for further disruption.”
The new venture is just the latest in Saudi Arabia’s massive spending on global sports driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, along with Sela, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has staged boxing’s top events since October 2023 with Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou. He eschewed the typical boxing undercards with stacked slates of competitive fights on his Riyadh Season cards that mostly take place in Saudi Arabia’s capital, but also in Los Angeles and London.
He purchased The Ring in November – a boxing publication that debuted in 1922 – and will stage his first card under that banner May 2 in Times Square with stars Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez in separate bouts.
Alalshikh has organized a litany of high-profile shows – including a pair of Oleksandr Usyk-Fury bouts and Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev showdowns – together with various promoters.
Today marks a new chapter in boxing history. I’m thrilled about this great partnership with those I consider the best for the sport. Together, we will elevate it to new heights. ❤️🥊 pic.twitter.com/uuXhpDYffy
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) March 5, 2025
And those shows will continue. But soon, he’ll launch his boxing league with White and Khan, two titans of the fight game. Alalshikh, White and Khan were 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on ESPN’s September ranking of the most-influential figures in the fight game.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without boxing,” White told The Ring. “The sport of boxing is where I started. I felt like it was something that could never be fixed until [Alalshikh] showed up. He’s done more for boxing than any promoter in the history of the sport combined.
“He’s invested more money, more energy and more passion into this sport than literally ever. … There aren’t a lot of people I would do a deal like this with.”
Alalshikh said he and White “have the same vision and I trust this league, in a short time, will crush everything.”
White has long professed his desire to enter the boxing space. Unlike the UFC, which White built into a multi-billion dollar empire that dominates the sport, boxing is splintered with four champions in each of its 17 weight classes.
And with the fractured nature of the sport that includes various competing promoters, the most-obvious, best matchups often elude fans.
“Everybody knows the format: the best fight the best,’ White, who joined UFC in 2001, told The Ring. “You work your way up the rankings, and once somebody breaks into the top five, there’s no question who the best five guys in the world are in each weight class and they fight it out.
“And then once somebody holds that belt, you don’t need three letters in front of the belt ( reference to the four sanctioning bodies). Whoever has that belt is the best in the world in that weight class.”
Khan, too, will be instrumental to the league’s success. Before he joined WWE in 2020, Khan was the co-head of TV at Creative Artists Agency, where he represented many of the top broadcast talents and negotiated media rights megadeals for the SEC, Top Rank Boxing and WWE.
WWE has enjoyed record-setting revenue and profitability under Khan’s leadership. He spearheaded WWE’s global expansion, gobbling up government subsidies for premium live events that formerly were centered stateside.
Khan was also instrumental in navigating WWE’s merger with UFC to form TKO Group, where he sits on the board of directors. Before Khan became an agent, he managed Hall of Fame boxers Manny Pacquiao and James Toney.
Source: espn.com