His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has become synonymous with staging some of the biggest boxing spectacles in recent years, often blending fights with high-profile live performances. With the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford clash now set for Allegiant Stadium—a $2 billion venue—expectations are equally grand. But Dana White has a different vision.

Dana White, who is promoting the fight as the debut event for his Zuffa Boxing league with backing from TKO Group and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, doesn’t share Alalshikh’s enthusiasm for stadium shows or lengthy concert intermissions. Speaking to BSalSportsGuy, White revealed that the push for Allegiant came from Alalshikh himself.

Dana White hates one thing about boxing

“Turki wanted to do Allegiant Stadium so bad,” White told the host of the show. “He wanted this thing so bad. You know me and how I feel about fights in stadiums. I like arenas.” Still, White’s main gripe isn’t the stadium—it’s the stop-and-start pacing of boxing events due to constant performances. “One of the things that I hate about boxing production is they’ll have a fight and then they’ll have a podcast in the middle of the fight, then they’ll have another fight and then they’ll have another podcast in the middle,” he explained. 

Instead, he intends to run the Canelo-Crawford card with UFC-style flow. “It’s just this show is going to move faster than any boxing match you’ve ever watched,” he added. Later, White doubled down on his dislike for stadium settings while promising a world-class production. “I don’t love stadium fights. I don’t like the feel of two ants fighting on a matchbook, and that’s how it would feel,” he said during the interview. “So, we have to figure out how to fix all of that. And you don’t feel that way when you leave the fight that night.” 

“I can guarantee you this. Television production is going to be solid. It’ll be incredible.” In the meantime, though, it appears Dana White’s new Zuffa Boxing league is close to securing a broadcast deal, and he can control the pacing of events as he likes.

Paramount may sign with Zuffa Boxing, backed by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh

Paramount may be closing in on another major combat sports property after finalizing its rights to broadcast UFC events in the United States. According to a report from Front Office Sports, the network is the frontrunner to secure broadcast rights for Zuffa Boxing, an upstart promotion led by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, UFC president Dana White, and WWE president Nick Khan.

“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,” said TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro during an earnings call last month. 

The new boxing league will stage two to three super fights per year, and Shapiro even has a number in mind regarding how much money each fight will bring in. “We expect to net on average another 10 million [dollars] for every super fight we manage and promote,” he added. 

From the looks of things, Dana White wants to run the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford event, unlike how His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has done things. And with Zuffa Boxing launching next year, that might become the new norm in the sport. What do you think about White’s approach?