TKO & Saudi Arabia reportedly set to launch boxing league
The TKO family may grow over the next few weeks as a report out Wednesday has the owners of WWE & UFC teaming up with Saudi Arabia to launch a new boxing league.
While rumors of TKO and the Saudis partnering up on boxing began in 2024, a New York Times report stated that a company owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund is “close” to creating a league with TKO featuring “up-and-coming boxers tied exclusively to the league” that could be announced at some point in the next few weeks.
WWE and the Saudis just announced that the Royal Rumble will be heading to the country in 2026 in the latest extension of their longtime relationship.
UFC head Dana White has long felt that boxing is broken and has wanted to do something about it, even teasing Zuffa Boxing years ago. TKO president Mark Shapiro said on a November investor call that if the company was to do something with boxing, it would be “in an organic way” and not by purchasing an existing entity.
Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alsheikh has been a key driver in bringing major boxing events to the country in recent years with a potential eye toward something like this.
According to the report, TKO would be a managing partner with the aforementioned Fund covering the investment. TKO would receive an equity stake and a revenue share.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.