Last month, the UFC finalized a massive $7.7 billion seven-year broadcast deal with Paramount to stream its numbered events and Fight Nights beginning next year. Now, TKO Group—the parent company for both UFC and WWE—is preparing to launch the Zuffa Boxing League in 2026, led by Dana White. As the year winds down, the UFC CEO has been dropping hints about a potential broadcast deal for the new boxing venture.

ESPN cut ties with Top Rank! Golden Boy and Matchroom remain tied to DAZN, and PBC has a partnership with Amazon Prime. Meanwhile, Netflix has dipped its toes into boxing with special events like the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, which was also promoted by White as Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural event. While speculation continues, TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro has stepped in to shed light on a broadcast deal, which will ensure nothing short of a massive payout, just like the UFC deal.

Zuffa Boxing onto greener pastures from 2026

Mark Shapiro revealed fresh details on the company’s boxing ambitions during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10. “We hope to have an announcement in the next two to three weeks on what we’re doing with boxing,” Shapiro said, outlining plans to stage blockbuster events in collaboration with Saudi Arabia. According to him, the strategy involves organizing “two to four fights with the Saudis on a super fight scale.”

He emphasized that the financial risk would be shouldered by their partners in Saudi Arabia. “We don’t pay to bring the fighters in. We don’t take any risk on that. We have the Saudis partner in this,” he explained, noting that TKO Group’s role would be to promote, market, stage, produce, and handle media rights for the events. “And for all of that, we are paid a fee, which will of course be incremental to our plan.” This means Dana White and TKO won’t have to worry about the fighter payout, which is the most substantial expenditure for any combat organization. Subsequently, this also means that their profits from such events, if successful, could be comparatively higher than those of other organizations.

Shapiro also confirmed that Zuffa Boxing already has a healthy number of 200 fighters signed for its league and is currently negotiating with broadcasters. “Zuffa Boxing… will be about 12 to 16 fights per year, and we are in the market right now selling media rights,” he was quoted as saying by The Ring. Alongside the league, he added, will be high-profile one-off spectacles—such as a potential Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford showdown—where TKO Group acts as “their promoter and their producer and their media rights seller of the business.”

Since then, Dana White himself has elaborated on where the boxing league is heading.

Dana White is aiming to nail a TV deal

The UFC CEO appears to have the whole combat ecosystem figured out. While appearing on the Impaulsive podcast recently with Logan Paul, White shed light on his plans. “If you look at what we’re doing right now, next year, with the Paramount deal, we’re going to do 44 events, between Fight Nights and numbered pay-per-view events,” White said. 

“I’m going to do 12 Power Slap events next year. We’re going to do 14 [UFC] BJJ events,” he added. Notably, since Top Rank and ESPN’s partnership came to an end, boxing has been missing from linear TV, and White wants to capitalize on that to surpass rivals in boxing. “And then [there is] the new boxing deal I’m working on for 2026,” White continued. 

“Think about this: Boxing isn’t on TV right now, nobody has a TV deal. They’re doing some DAZN fights. I’ll end up nailing down a television deal for boxing, and we’ll do 16 or 18 boxing events next year.”

Having said that, it appears Zuffa Boxing could announce a new lucrative TV deal any day now. However, who will land that deal remains a mystery. If you had to guess, which network do you think it will be?