The UFC is about to throw hands in the boxing world—well, kind of! According to the latest reports, TKO Group Holdings, the powerhouse behind the UFC, is closing in on a deal to launch a brand-new boxing league in 2025. And guess who’s backing it? Saudi Arabia. This past Wednesday, TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro spilled the beans, confirming that negotiations are heating up. But he didn’t stop there—he also took a jab at last November’s Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight.

Per Shapiro, the league would be run by executives from the UFC and WWE, but they won’t participate in any additional financial investments. It appears TKO is pretty close to hitting the final nail on the deal, as he claimed, “We’ve just sent a delegation to London to meet with the Saudi delegation… They had a full-day meeting earlier this week and we’re getting awfully close and when we have something official, we’ll come out [with the news].”

Apart from having full control over the league, TKO would be far away from any potential losses the organization may incur as it gets up and running. Shapiro also claimed that they would get a fee of $10 million plus for their work in the boxing venture. However, the most interesting part about the deal with the Saudis is that it will see two mega-boxing cards unfold in 2025 and 2026 as part of the deal. 

“I think I’ve given you at least a framework of what the deal would be,” Shapiro said. “It’s own league and we’d have consistent fights throughout the year. I think on top of that you should know as part of the partnership, we would be the promoter, producer and event operator for four large-scale kind of super fights, as I call them, that would air probably two this year and two in [2026].”

“Those may or 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, the producer, and the event operator.” Furthermore, Shapiro is banking on the expertise of UFC CEO Dana White and WWE president Nick Khan to provide valuable insight to grow boxing with the league’s launch.

Shapiro followed this by taking a dig at the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, which broke records last year. “There’s still strong interest in the sport around the globe and particularly in the U.S.,” he said. “[Mike] Tyson and Jake Paul on Netflix isn’t the best example because, come on, even the casual viewer wants to see that because everybody wanted to see Mike Tyson back in the ring.” 

“That event in November 2024 attracted 100 million worldwide viewers and 65 million worldwide concurrent streams with just about 40 million of those in the U.S.” Despite their enthusiasm about this boxing venture with the Saudis, Shapiro claims they haven’t lost sight of what really makes them money—UFC and WWE.

Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson jokes aside, TKO Holdings aren’t ignoring UFC and WWE

Despite exploring opportunities in boxing, TKO Holdings remains committed to its core businesses—UFC and WWE. Mark Shapiro made this clear, stating, “Our primary focus, I don’t want to get away from that, is continuing to drive value to our core business… make no mistake about it, our core business is UFC and WWE.”

Shapiro emphasized that while TKO is integrating assets like IMG, On Location, and PBR, they primarily aim to strengthen UFC and WWE. However, boxing is on their radar, as it aligns with their strategic vision. “When you look at boxing, it checks the boxes of all of that,” he said. “We can be selective in terms of how we participate… and it will definitely be value accretive.”

Having said that, Jake Paul really wouldn’t like this update because of his long-drawn feud with Dana White. However, there’s no denying that TKO’s involvement in the sport can only help boxing get even bigger, perhaps reaching its lost glory in the 60s and 70s. What do you think about all this?