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Just after finalizing a big UFC deal, Paramount is in advanced talks to score another TKO property.
Sources told Front Office Sports that Paramount is the “front-runner” to land the rights for Zuffa Boxing, an upstart boxing promotion spearheaded by Saudi official Turki Alalshikh, UFC boss Dana White, and WWE president Nick Khan.
Terms of the potential deal were not immediately available. Reps for Paramount, Endeavor, and TKO did not respond to requests for comment.
Speaking about Zuffa Boxing, TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro said on last week’s earnings call: “This is a low risk and TKO receives a roughly $10 million fee for serving as the managing partner and providing day-to-day operational management oversight. And that’s all margin for us. TKO has no funding obligation.”
Alalshikh is the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and an advisor to the royal court.
TKO/Zuffa will also promote 2–3 “super fights” per year with the Saudis, such as the upcoming Canelo Álvarez–Terence Crawford match that will air on Netflix on Sept. 13, Shapiro said on the earnings call.
“Again, no risk to us on that deal. We get a fee to promote it, each one of these super fights. We get a fee to negotiate the media rights for each fight, which IMG does,” Shapiro said. “So another reason we’re strong and proud that we brought IMG into the fold of our flywheel. We get a fee for On Location to sell hospitality packages. And we will put Zuffa Boxing fighters on the undercard of each of these super fights. We expect to net on average another 10 million [dollars] for every super fight we manage and promote.”
Earlier this week, Paramount and UFC announced an expansive seven-year deal—worth an average of $1.1 billion annually—for the MMA promotion to air its fights on Paramount+, with a number of events also slated for wide broadcast reach on CBS. UFC had previously aired on ESPN platforms.
RedBird Capital, a stakeholder in Paramount Skydance, is also an investor in Front Office Sports through RedBird IMI.
