TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC and WWE, has announced the launch of a new boxing promotion in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and Sela, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund.
This landmark venture aims to revolutionize the boxing landscape by integrating the sport into TKO’s combat sports empire, bringing a new level of organization, promotion, and fighter development.
UFC President Dana White and WWE President Nick Khan will lead the initiative, ensuring a unique blend of sports entertainment and competitive integrity. The promotion is set to debut in 2026, following the finalization of major broadcast rights deals, which are expected to bring global visibility and financial backing to the sport. With Saudi Arabia’s increasing investment in combat sports, this new promotion is poised to capitalize on the country’s growing influence in boxing.
One of the standout features of the new promotion is the integration of UFC’s Performance Institutes, which have been instrumental in revolutionizing training, recovery, and sports science for mixed martial artists. Boxers under the new banner will have access to these state-of-the-art facilities, providing them with cutting-edge training methodologies to enhance their performance and longevity in the sport. This move aligns with TKO’s vision of creating a more structured and professional ecosystem for boxing, akin to what UFC has achieved in MMA.
A key innovation of the promotion will be its emphasis on structured matchmaking, ensuring that fighters must compete against top-ranked contenders to maintain their positions and earn championship opportunities. This approach aims to eliminate the fragmented nature of boxing’s championship system, where multiple sanctioning bodies often create confusion with overlapping titles. The promotion seeks to introduce a unified championship model, compelling champions to defend their titles against mandatory challengers, thus restoring competitive credibility to the sport.
Saudi Arabia’s role in this venture cannot be overstated. The kingdom has already hosted some of the biggest boxing events in recent years, including high-profile heavyweight clashes and crossover fights involving global superstars. By aligning with TKO Group Holdings, Saudi Arabia further cements its status as a premier destination for major combat sports events, attracting the world’s best fighters and amplifying the country’s presence on the global sports stage.
The timing of this announcement is particularly significant as boxing continues to grapple with issues such as promotional disputes, infrequent matchups between top fighters, and a lack of unified structure. With TKO’s proven expertise in event promotion, branding, and athlete management, the new boxing promotion could address many of these challenges, bringing consistency, entertainment value, and legitimacy back to the sport.
As the countdown to the 2026 launch begins, the combat sports world will be watching closely to see how this new promotion reshapes boxing. With industry heavyweights like Dana White and Nick Khan at the helm, and Saudi Arabia’s substantial backing, this initiative has the potential to redefine boxing’s future, offering fighters and fans an exciting new era of competition.
The new boxing promotion spearheaded by TKO Group Holdings is expected to usher in a major transformation in the sport, one that could redefine how boxing operates at both the professional and commercial levels. By leveraging the promotional expertise of UFC and WWE, the venture aims to modernize boxing’s structure, improve matchmaking, and create a more consistent viewing experience for fans.
While boxing has long been one of the most popular combat sports worldwide, it has suffered from a fragmented system, with multiple sanctioning bodies, complex negotiations between promoters, and a lack of mandatory matchups between top fighters. The new promotion seeks to address these issues, providing a clearer path to championship opportunities and ensuring that the best fighters regularly compete against one another.
One of the biggest selling points of this promotion is the promise of a unified championship structure, a model that UFC has successfully implemented in mixed martial arts. Unlike boxing’s current landscape, where fighters often hold multiple belts across different organizations and avoid unification bouts due to promotional conflicts, this new system will emphasize structured rankings and required title defenses.
Fighters will have to earn their status by competing against top-ranked challengers, reducing the number of unnecessary rematches, cherry-picked opponents, and prolonged title reigns without mandatory defenses. This could be a game-changer for boxing, restoring credibility to the championship process and making title fights more meaningful for both fighters and fans.
The influence of Dana White and Nick Khan is another crucial factor in the promotion’s potential success. White has long been critical of boxing’s inefficiencies, often citing its lack of structure as a primary reason why MMA, and specifically UFC, has grown in popularity over the last two decades.
With UFC’s centralized model proving successful, White and his team will likely apply similar principles to this new boxing venture, ensuring that fighters stay active, championship belts are defended regularly, and matchups are made based on rankings rather than promotional disputes. Nick Khan, on the other hand, brings deep knowledge of sports entertainment, media rights, and event production, making him instrumental in securing lucrative television and streaming deals that will ensure widespread distribution and financial success.
