Did you ever expect UFC CEO Dana White to accept boxing under his wing? If not, then you will be surprised because, finally, the unthinkable has happened. After months of planning and even some fights in Saudi Arabia, especially with the Riyadh Season thanks to his eminence Turki Alalshikh, Dana White has signed a new deal!

In a recent upload from X, “BOOOOOOM!!!!! Boxing here we come,” White wrote for a video he shared on social media. Dana White announced, “What’s up guys, we have signed a deal. We just started a new boxing league with Turki. We absolutely love the sport of boxing.” Alalshikh chimed in, “I give the flag of boxing to the best man who can handle it. We have a tough job now, but I am sure he will be delivering to the people and the fans a magnificent league and get boxing great again.”

The UFC head honcho added: “The model is proven to deliver the fights that the fans want to see. The best will fight the best and the fighters will continue to move up the rankings and become world champions.” Are you ready for a new era of boxing?

So firstly let’s catch our breath shall we? This is a pretty big news. The UFC CEO was always having disagreements with boxers and promoters and did not even like crossover fights among UFC and boxing stars. But now the tables have turned as he has taken this age old sport under his wing with a new leauge!

According to Ring Magazine, Alalshikh signed a multi-year partnership with TKO,  the parent company under which both UFC and WWE co exist. This promotion will be headed by both White and WWE President Nick Khan. The league’s name has not been announced as of now.

Promotion’s Rules and all we know about it

With TKO Group officially entering the boxing deal with the Saudi Arabian authorities, Dana White is entering the boxing world after almost a decade of hinting at entering the sport. The first event for this league will be held in 2026.

This league is going to run a partnership with chairman Turki Alalshikh and Sela, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which currently boasts a $925B war chest, which is projected to cross $1 trillion by the end of this year. PIF has spearheaded the country’s investment into the arena of sports.

The new promotion is going to feature a strict structure to develop new talent all around the world, which includes athlete combines and academies. There will also be access for all the boxers to the UFC Performance Institute. In the past, the UFC CEO has criticized boxing cards for being top heavy with very little attempt to build other co-main and undercards for the viewers, which is what UFC has succeeded in doing.

What are the Judging criteria?

The new judging criteria is not available as of yet. The UFC scoring is pretty strict where the scorekeeper calculates the final points after deducting any points for fouls. Only the referee can call any of the fouls in UFC. So will the criteria be similar to the world’s premier MMA promotion? We’re not sure yet.

On top of that the judges should not factor any fouls into their scoring calculations unless the refree requests the same. On top of that Dana White’s other promotion—Power Slap have rules that allow for point deduction during the regulation and overtime periods.

The main goal for the new boxing league is to reimagine the sport of boxing globally and to bring the sport back to its former glory. As for the details on judging rules, the UFC head honcho announced that he will have more updates very soon.

Who are the fighters signed by dana white?

Turki Alalshikh has been organizing electrifying boxing events in recent times with the Riyadh Season initiatives. However, Dana White said that even though the fights were amazing, they could not have lucrative incentives for the promoters.

The fighters are not known as of yet, but what we do know is that there are two possible major cards that can happen in late 2025 and 2026 as a part of the deal. “This is a strategic opportunity to reimagine the sport of boxing globally,” Shapiro said in a recent press release. “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.”

Payout, Salary, and Earnings details

Boxing is transforming right before our eyes and the  UFC president and his Excellency have embarked on the journey to reshape the historic sport. While speaking with Carl Froch, Alalshikh noted that numerous fighters desire to have the same or greater record than Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s 50-0 record, but he stressed that this kind of perfection is too rare.

Instead, Alalshikh gave the example of Muhammad Ali, who despite losing 5 times, remains a legendary figure. He reasoned for a similar model to the structure of UFC, where winners can lose and still be honored and paid decently. “We must now be normal to have losing some fights in boxing,” he stated.

We do not know the rules or the payouts of the new boxing league but The Riyadh Season payouts were massive. We can assume that the new league will be similar. The main fight of the tournament was held between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Bivol, originally from Kyrgyzstan, defeated Beterbiev  and became the Light heavyweight champ. He was paid a whopping $10 million. So we can expect a huge payout for the fighters under the new league.

Actually, if PIF’s involvement in Golf is any indication, an increase in purses is a question of when rather than if.

The PIF has caused a purse-size explosion with LIV Golf. They started offering jaw-dropping contracts and eye-watering paychecks to pros, dragging the PGA Tour into a financial arms race. Three years later, the PGA Tour’s Scottie Scheffler pocketed over $62M in 2024 from tournament money and bonuses, while Jon Rahm jumped to LIV Golf for a $300M contract. Interestingly, PIF and PGA Tour are coming to a business agreement as the former’s entertainment wing, Sela, starts a new partnership. 

With that, UFC is just another frontier that PIF has crossed. But by no means the last one. PIF’s footprint is visible in the English Premier League (an 80% stake in New Castle United), Tennis (naming rights for ATP rankings), and North American Soccer (a multiyear partnership with Concacaf). Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is also the official host of the 2034 Soccer World Cup. The Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund has partnerships with Formula E, Extreme E, and E1 powerboat racing. Notably, PIF wanted to buy F1 for $20B, but Liberty Media rejected the bid. 

They have yet to venture into any other major American sports leagues. But all big five leagues opening up to private equity leaves a small door open for them. Asli Pelit at Front Office Sports noted that PIF can actually back any private equity that invests in any NFL franchise. While that’s still a matter of ‘wait-and-watch,’ their foray into UFC reaffirms PIF and, by extension, Saudi Arabia’s plans to invest in sports across the globe.