3 Extraordinary Details From UFC Owner’s Invasion of Boxing With Turki Alalshikh

UFC owner TKO confirmed during an earnings call on Wednesday, the 26th of February, that they are close to agreeing a deal with Turki Alalshikh regarding the long-rumored boxing league.

GIVEMESPORT reporter Alan Dawson has spoken to UFC boss Dana White over the years about his grand arrival in the sport of boxing, and heard that White fancied himself as the HBO of the fight game, in which he’d oversee production and broadcast, as he said he has extraordinary ideas on how to take the sport forward.

Now, insiders at TKO have revealed details about what this would look like, and the money they stand to receive per event they help organize.

Francis Ngannou Reveals 4-Man Hitlist as he Targets Big Boxing Bout

Francis Ngannou reveals four-man Hitlist in boxing as he targets another crossover super-fight.

Three Interesting Details From TKO’s Admission About Boxing

UFC owner’s deal with Turki Alalshikh regarding a boxing league is close to fruition

Mark Shapiro, who is the TKO president and chief operating officer, shared three extraordinary details about the league when talking to investors during Wednesday’s earnings call. Those details include a $10 million fee the UFC could collect per event, the fact UFC could end up with equity in the league despite not putting any capital into it, or being on the hook for costs, as Shapiro explained, and, finally, optimism that a deal, perhaps, could be agreed any day now.

“Everybody knows we’re in talks with the Saudis, but to give you a little more color, I will tell you that we are close [to] an agreement with the Saudis on a creation of a boxing league where we TKO would be the producer, the promoter and responsible for all day-to-day operations of the venture, where by we would receive a fee of $10 million plus,” said Shapiro said during the call. “Again, we’re not putting any money in, we’re not putting any capital in, we’re not on the hook for any [of the costs].”

Despite not putting capital in, TKO Group “would hve some earn-in equity per time, specifically over a five-year period, but it would be dependent on us achieving certain milestones, including us exceeding board-approved annual budgets over that five years.”

The deal could be confirmed imminently.

“We’ve just sent a delegation to London to meet with the Saudi delegation led by Andrew Schleimer, our [chief financial officer] and Nick Khan, of course who runs WWE, and Lawrence Epstein who runs UFC.”

“They had a full day meeting earlier this week and we’re getting awfully close and when we have something official, we’ll come out.”

It is not yet known which boxers will compete in the league, however, what is known is that they won’t be marquee names, or champions, meaning fighters like Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, and Oleksandr Usyk would be ruled out. The league, it seems, could focus on the level below that kind of fighter, meaning super welterweight boxer Callum Walsh — who Dana White helps promote through Tom Loeffler’s 360 Promotions — may be an ideal fit.