Zuffa Boxing’s Business Model Is Already Shifting

Six months after its first card, Zuffa Boxing’s business model has become less clear. 

The boxing promotion, launched with the goal of creating an organized boxing league similar to UFC, has had to balance its long-term goals with recent demands from star fighters. Zuffa and UFC are both under the TKO umbrella, but TKO only owns 40% of the boxing promotion, with Saudi Arabian entertainment company Sela owning the other 60%.

One of Zuffa’s first big signings, Conor Benn, is set to fight Ryan Garcia for the WBC welterweight title on Sep. 12. The event will be streamed on Paramount+, Zuffa’s media rights partner, but will not be a Zuffa event, as it’s being co-promoted alongside Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden-Boy Promotions. 

Benn has yet to fight on a Zuffa card, with his first fight under the promotion coming on an event organized by Ring Magazine, which is owned by Saudi government official and Zuffa co-founder Turki Alalshikh. While his fight with Garcia is undeniably a massive event, selling over $6.3 million in tickets the first day, it brings into question whether Zuffa is turning its attention to co-promoting super fights rather than attempting to build up its own events.

UFC president and lead Zuffa promoter Dana White previously said he had “no interest” in working with any of the four major sanctioning bodies, saying he wanted to create his own world title. With Zuffa now nine events into its first year, he appears to have changed his stance.     

“All of this is a work in progress,” White said in a press conference after Zuffa Boxing 09 earlier this week. “My goal, and if you look at what Turki has done over the last several years in boxing, is to put on the biggest and the best fights that we can. However, or whatever it takes to achieve that we’ll try to do.”

White later added that Zuffa will operate on a “case by case basis” when evaluating if fighters signed to the promotion will be allowed to fight for other world titles. The change in tune caught the attention of some of White’s biggest critics, including Jake Paul.

“They went from shitting on all of the boxing sanctioning bodies and how they need to get rid of them for the good of boxing to now this,” Paul wrote in a post on X. “Truth is we need to further align promoters and the sanctioning bodies to create the biggest opportunities for boxers. That should be the goal. More transparency, more collaboration and more big fights.”

Shakur Stevenson is the latest Zuffa Boxing signing whose future is unclear. The four-division world champion currently holds the WBO junior welterweight title, last fighting at 140 pounds. Zuffa only has 135 and 147 pound weight divisions, meaning Stevenson will either have to vacate his WBO title or fight at 140 pounds on non-Zuffa events. 

Stevenson told ESPN he wouldn’t have signed with the promotion if he wasn’t sure he could get the “big fights” he desires. Looking at Zuffa’s roster, Benn is the only notable name close in weight with Stevenson, meaning it’s more likely than not he will initially fight boxers signed with other promotions. 

One thing that’s clear is that he will not wear the Zuffa Boxing uniform.

“I’m gonna be putting on my own uniform,” Stevenson said. “I already established that when I talked with them.”

What’s the Holdup?

Zuffa’s ability to replicate the UFC model hinges on the passing of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Revival Act. The legislation, which was passed by the House in March, will create unified boxing organizations (UBOs), parallel to existing sanctioning bodies, and will also implement enhanced minimums for fighter pay and health standards. 

The bill has yet to pass the Senate, with Muhammad Ali’s grandson, Nico Ali Walsh, at the forefront of the opposition to the legislation. 

“These senators have been agreeing with us,” Ali Walsh, who is also a professional boxer, said Tuesday on The Ariel Helwani Show. “They know that the Revival Act is not going to pass as it stands. It’s going to pass as something else, but now we’re able to implement the changes we felt were necessary to better the sport of boxing, and of course, protect the fighters.”

Those desired changes, which the boxer discussed in a recent meeting with TKO board of directors member and WWE president Nick Khan, relate to financial transparency, free agency, length of contracts, and rankings transparency.

Once the bill is passed, Zuffa Boxing can move towards forming a league similar to UFC. Until then, don’t be surprised to see Zuffa’s stars competing on co-promoted events for other world titles.