On January 8, The New York Times reported TKO and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund are reportedly close to creating a new boxing league.
During the 2024 TKO earnings call, TKO COO Mark Shapiro confirmed the two sides are close and offered more insight.
"We are close on an agreement with the Saudis on the creation of a boxing league where we, TKO, would be the producer, the promoter, and responsible for all day-to-day operations of the venture, whereby we would receive a fee of $10 million-plus. We're not putting capital in. Additionally, we would have some earn-in equity over time, specifically over a five-year period, but it would be dependent on us achieving certain milestones, including us exceeding board-approved annual budgets over those five years. We just sent a delegation to London to meet with the Saudi delegation, led by Andrew Schleimer, our CFO, Nick Khan, who runs WWE, and Lawrence Epstein, who runs UFC. They had a full day meeting earlier this week, and we're getting close. When we have something official, it'll come out.
"We would be the promoter, producer, and event operator of four large-scale super fights that would air, probably two this year, and two in [2026]. Those may not fall into the boxing league itself. They may just be one offs, but we would be paid a fee to act as the promoter, producer, and even operator."
UFC President Dana White has long expressed his desire to enter the world of boxing, and recently said that he "has a plan" to enter the sport as a promoter.
Saudi Arabia has hosted many big boxing fights in recent years, including both Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk bouts.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
