WWE and UFC owners deal for new Saudi Arabia boxing league 'close to agreement'
The owners of WWE and UFC are closing in on an agreement to create a new Saudi-funded boxing league.
TKO Group Holdings held a meeting with investors on Wednesday where COO Mark Shapiro told investors it would last over a "five-year period". Saudi representatives are said to keen to form a league after investing billions to host heavyweight fights for Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk in the kingdom.
The UFC and WWE already hold events in Saudi, as do boxing promoters Matchroom and Queensberry. TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro told investors: “Everybody knows we're in talks with the Saudis, but to give you a little more colour, I will tell you that 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."
READ MORE: Ronnie O'Sullivan showed true colours with emotional snooker confession as retirement verdict made
Shapiro confirmed TKO will put no capital into the project with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment fund taking the financial brunt. TKO would also be responsible for overseeing "four large scale super-fights" across 2025 and 2026. It is unclear what the league would look like and who would compete in it.
"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," he said.
Saudi influence over the sport has increased significantly, with many of boxing's biggest events taking place in the kingdom including Fury's two bouts against Usyk in 2024. Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia's general entertainment authority, has overseen a £5bn spend on the sport since 2021.
