Dana White called danger for ‘open market’ as UFC CEO joins hands with boxing tycoon Turki Alalshikh

UFC CEO Dana White now has a deal on the books for a new boxing league. He joined up with fellow autocrat/Saudi GEA chief Turki Alalshikh and WWE president Nick Khan to form the promotion. The blockbuster deal for such a new league has had heads turning. However, one name, Paul Malignaggi, is saying that the said league will have its pitfalls.

Dana White and his UFC have been an MMA monopoly. However, ex-IBF/WBA boxing champ Paul Malignaggi is here to remind that, much like boxing, MMA used to be an open market. Wanderlei Silva, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (Japan Circuit), and others were superstars when it was. However, White and his unwillingness to cross-promote is famous; per Malignaggi, it is a cause for concern.

Remember, MMA, if you remember far enough Dan, …MMA was open. I used to have a DVD back in the early 2000s of Pride Grand Prix where there were UFC fighters…So it was an open market like boxing. Obviously, you have your promotional stable entity but you can fight other fighters…the different here is: He says [Dana] he is not gonna work with the other promotions. He is creating his own league; he is trying to [monopolize] — I woudn’t be surprised if this signed fighters have basically no allowance at all.

Paul Malignaggi to Dan Rafael (🎥 : @JustTheFights3) for Boxing Scene

Paul Malignaggi also recently ripped White for his cheap tactics of not paying out Francis Ngannou what he should. ‘Predator’ had a highly publicized UFC split because the litigation forced him to drag on a sunset clause of $600,000. Many like him fought for ancillary rights in perpetuity to have more freedom for cross-promotion fights. Ngannou later became the hottest free agency and a boxer.

Paulie Malignaggi on Dana White: He says he's not gonna work with the other promotions, so he is creating his own league.pic.twitter.com/hOxTGfIY2D

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 14, 2025

WBC has given its support for the purport of this TKO Holdings boxing league. Dana White and his kinship with Saudi GEA chairman Turki Alalshikh is to produce boxing combines and training faciliatations like none other. It’s all good in bits, but Malignaggi dreads a boxing monopoly with UFC-exclusive contracts, titlist rankings, and so on.

Is Dana White too self-centric and bad for boxing?

For one, even White’s closest allies bill that his telecasting habits are pathologically exploitative. For another, he blurts out promises in favor of fighters, but ultimately, everything goes in favor of the promotion.

Featherweight Movsar Evloev was left yearning for meaningful fights as he did not tout finishers. Belal Muhammad had to put on a body of work with a 10-fight unbeaten streak, while his counterparts got title shots off losses.

A scrap between Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch was publicly promised for a title shot. Yet it was sharp talker Jake Shields who got it for UFC 121. White would often promote working a boxing level-payday for Jon Jones; he billed that it was Ngannou who later ran from Jones. He went hell-bent not to cross-promote with Ngannou and PFL. His dreams for a boxing takeover could stem from the same wishes.

That does not mean he is not good for the growth of boxing. The openness of boxing has seen top-heavy decks of fighters where everyone sports a blimp. Unlike classic boxing, the 4-belt era sometimes lacks merit to their rivalries. Dana White’s fight management and one-on-one league fighting could change it.

How will this boxing league work? Dana White reveals first details

A TKO-Turki Alalshikh league has caught everyone’s eyes; Dana White recently revealed that he would be handling the business side of things. It’d be a close-loop arrangement with some big one-of-one boxing spectacles.

The cogs of the league, though, feel a little less concrete on the finer details. That’s because the UFC boss said they were still working the kinks out and headhunting for broadcast deals. He said as much in a recent media interview with former ESPN boxing journalist Dan Rafael.

How many fights you’re gonna do a year? It’s gonna depend on, on who we do a deal with, what they’re looking for …So we will go in, we will cut a deal with somebody — and we will basically build this thing around what they need for programming…It’s gonna be interest because even the majors, unless you’re the f—ng NFL or college football — NBA’s numbers are dropping drastically…

Dana White during The Pat McAfee Show for @espn

The brass has previously put some Fight Pass boxing telecasts on Rogers Sportsnet and ESPN Latam (BZ). White and company were also under tab for an exclusive deal with UK station TNT Sports. From ex-SpikeTV head Kevin Kay to Eric Shanks of FOX, and even ESPN ally Jimmy Pitaro, White doused he has a good partnership with all. This means that UFC and its parent, TKO Group Holdings, might find themselves on one or multiple platforms.

Netflix went on the book with a $5 billion deal with UFC’s sister promotion, WWE. While TKO is not fond of the weekly telecast from Netflix, a boxing league with athlete-combines and prepping might just find a house in that. It all depends on where the broadcast deal lands.

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