Winners and Losers of TKO's New Boxing Promotion

Boxing just got itself a new high-profile promotion.

Dana White, who has guided the UFC from a glorified tough-man contest to one of the world's most popular sporting enterprises, went public Wednesday as the face of a new partnership to establish a new boxing promotion.

TKO Group Holdings, which includes both the UFC and WWE, is working alongside Saudi Arabia general entertainment authority chairman Turki Alalshikh to provide a premier platform for leading boxers and prospects. White is the UFC chief executive officer and is joined on the new entity's executive board by WWE president Nick Khan.

Alalshikh has been the force behind a recent run of high-profile boxing events in his home country, including a match between Tyson Fury and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in 2023 and 175-pound unification bouts between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev in October 2024 and February 2025.

Needless to say, the announcement created significant buzz in the boxing wing of B/R's combat headquarters and prompted us to put together an immediate list of winners and losers surrounding the news.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Some love him. Some hate him.

And some might characterize their feelings with even stronger terms.

Nevertheless, it would be impossible to argue Dana White doesn't come out of this looking like the tough-talking straw that stirs the revolutionary drink.

His disruption-friendly style has been key in the rise of the UFC, and he's been more than happy to thumb his nose at the establishment along the way, including when he skirted pandemic-era lockdowns to establish "Fight Island" as the go-to venue in an otherwise sports-starved summer of 2020.

He took his boxing news to ESPN's First Take on Wednesday morning and had perpetually brash host Stephen A. Smith breathlessly eating out of his hand while offering to do anything needed to help the new enterprise "free of charge."

As first days go, that's as big a win as there is.

All of a sudden, the old guard feels a lot older, no?

To his credit, Bob Arum has been in boxing for more than half a century, and his Top Rank conglomerate has promoted some of the biggest fights in the sport's history.

He worked with Muhammad Ali. He worked with Thomas Hearns. He worked with Manny Pacquiao. So, his street cred among the legends is beyond question.

But he's also a 93-year-old man whose more recent track record includes fighters such as Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Terence Crawford and even Pacquiao himself leaving to go into business for themselves or cultivate better deals elsewhere.

That last phrase feels particularly pertinent right now.

The arrival of White and Co. presents a new, deep-pocketed option for fighters currently aligned with Arum and contemporaries Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon, which might not mean immediate bad news for those powerbrokers and their fiefdoms, but it's certainly not good.

It's simple economics. Where there is more opportunity, there is typically more compensation.

So, the arrival of another high-profile promotional apparatus on the scene can't help but be a good thing for the rank-and-file fighters.

But this isn't your grandfather's promotional apparatus. And the purses the Saudis have offered to have the best fight the best in Riyadh are a mite bit better than those from generations past, too.

It's already been enough to get important matches made that hadn't been getting made, which is good by anyone's measure.

And if it offers more chances to shine for fighters who have not yet reached household name status, even better.

If you're a "rising tide lifts all boats" type, this may be the thing for you.

Ask any boxing fan of a certain age what they would most want changed about today's version of the sport, and their reply is a stone-cold lock:

Too many title belts.

Too many champions.

Unlike those who recall an era with one kingpin per weight class or even those who yearn for the days of two, modern fans are subject to a fractured fiefdom in which four champs is the norm.

And that's not even counting sanctioning interlopers such as the IBO, which pines for a chance to step behind the velvet rope and into the club where the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO do their dubious business.

But if White and Co. get their collective way, it won't last.

His UFC is a model for organizations striving for simplicity, featuring a coherent ratings system that yields a consistent stream of bouts between contenders and a steady flow of worthwhile defenses for incumbent champions.

In other words, it's everything that boxing is not...but what it could someday be.

"Once somebody breaks into the top five, there's no question who the best five guys in the world are in each weight class and they fight it out," White told The Ring.

"And then once somebody holds that belt, you don't need three letters in front of the belt. Whoever has that belt is the best in the world in that weight class."

Last but not least, let's give it up for the paying customers.

With only a rare exception, the modern fan has longed for the best-vs-best matchups that used to seem so common, and instead be subject to promotional fiefdoms matching their clients only with clients who share the allegiance.

Haymon's guys fight Haymon's guys. Arum's guys fight Arum's guys. And only intermittently do they cross boundary lines to provide "chasing greatness" fights.

If the experiment works, the Cold War ends. Or at least thaws.

And common sense returns. Perhaps following the UFC model to the letter. Perhaps aligning to it with an approach that works better for boxing.

Regardless, it moves the needle for fan interest more than it's been in a while.

"It's exciting. Those guys know how to win," Randy Gordon, former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, told Bleacher Report. "Turki is a visionary with money. So is Dana. Both guys love boxing. I am excited for what is next. Our sport is about to change. I love this!"