Dana White revealed how he plans to run the new TKO boxing promotion league he started with Turki Alalshikh. White says he will build it from the ground up, using the UFC model as his blueprint for success.
Dana is going to sign fighters to the league, and they’ll compete and suffer defeats just like fighters do in the UFC. He says they’ll get rid of the five different sanctioning bodies and just have one for his league. It will be impossible to create a monopoly in boxing where just one company operates in isolation. It doesn’t work in other businesses and won’t work in boxing.
Career-Shortening Risks
Fighters excluded from this clique-like boxing league will still follow the four sanctioning bodies, still fight on DAZN and be signed with the popular promoters that run the sport now.
Being in a league where a handful of quality fighters face each other repeatedly in grueling fights will likely shorten their careers. Imagine fighters like David Benavidez and David Morrell competing four or five times against each other in a boxing league that follows the UFC model.
Both of their careers will be shortened due to the punishment they endure. Yeah, it’s entertainment for the fans, but it’s going to be hell for the fighters put through repeated tough fights. The punishment boxers take is much more severe than in the UFC. If I were a boxer, I wouldn’t want to be in a league where I was always fighting ‘The best’ every time.” You can’t do that in boxing without your career ending quickly.
“People want to see great fights. Boxing has become this thing where you have to be undefeated for people to care about you. That’s all going to go away,” said Dana White to ESPN’s First Take, talking about his new partnership with Turki Alalshikh to create a boxing league.
“There’s a lot of guys out there that we’re looking at that are going to be on this roster that have a lot of O’s. They’re all going to fight each other, and what people want to see is great fights. They want to know who the best is in the world.”
Is This “Best”?
If the fighters Dana White and Turki sign to this new boxing league, are only going to fight other guys on that roster, how will they prove they’re the “best in the world?” It’s not the best. All they’re really doing is proving they’re the best in that league with the limited number of fighters that compete. It seems like what Turki is doing now works better, picking out great fighters, signing them to short contracts, and setting up compelling fights. You don’t need an isolated league to do stuff like that.
It’s like with the AFL that ran separately from the NFL from 1960 to 1970. The only times the teams from the two leagues played each other were in the Super Bowl. During the season, you don’t have teams from the AFL playing NFL teams until they merged in 1970. Creating a boxing league where the fighters only compete against other fighters in that league is limiting. The idea doesn’t work any better than the current situation in the sport.
“I’m implementing simple things, like the best fight the best,” said White. “There’s a lot of talent that we’re looking at right now that nobody knows about. What I would like to do is build this thing from the ground up like we did with the UFC. When we originally bought the UFC, we had twelve contracts. You started having everybody fitting everybody. When you get to the top five, there’s no denying who the best five guys in the world are and then they all fight it out to see who the world champion.”
How can the top five in a small league be called the best in the world when you’re talking about a limited pool of fighters? White is saying he started with 12, and he claims the top five were the best in the world? What is he talking about? They’re only the best in that small company, but not the world. With this boxing league, if they’re going to compete only against other fighters in the league, you can’t call them the best.
The way things have been going in the current system is fighters with Top Rank, Matchroom, Golden Boy, and PBC have often focused on setting up fights with guys within that promotional company. It’s been like four or five different leagues. This new league with Dana White and Turki, it’s just more of the same thing we’ve been seeing. The only difference is Turki has more money to play with to lure good fighters. If they’re only going to compete with a limited number of guys within that league, it won’t be as interesting as it is now.
The Legacy continues🥊🔥 pic.twitter.com/ifoGMnYdon
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) March 5, 2025
Last Updated on 03/05/2025
