Following the success of ‘King’ Callum Walsh’s feature on UFC Fight Pass, CEO Dana White has teased that he could soon be making a long-awaited move into the world of boxing promotion.
Whilst there are those within the combat sports world who are vehemently against Dana White entering the industry, especially in partnership with Turki Alalshikh, there are also some enormous names who are begging the UFC CEO to get involved.
Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images Hall of Famer Teddy Atlas begs Dana White to join Turki Alalshikh in boxing
When Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki Alalshikh first barged his way into the boxing scene, there was significant backlash to what many fans deemed to be ‘sportswashing’ from the Saudi Arabian government.
Yet here and now in September 2024, Alalshikh is being hailed as the man responsible for the ‘saving’ of boxing – having helped negotiate (thanks to deep, deep pockets) a slew of incredible fights that many thought were almost impossible to put together.
Many of those same sentiments are now being echoed regarding Dana White, with Hall of Famer Teddy Atlas coming out to essentially beg the UFC CEO to partner with Alalshikh in order to make the fights that the sport needs: “I’d say come on in, come on in – we need you!
“Turki Alalshikh has helped boxing tremendously by making fights that the promoters couldn’t make or didn’t want to make because they didn’t own both sides, they didn’t control both sides; they don’t want to go across the street to share.
“The fans suffered and didn’t get the fights that they wanted, the sport suffered, the sport was getting less and less relevant… This sport shouldn’t be irrelevant, but it was becoming it because the promotors with their networks [and] with their sugar daddies, they were just making fights to keep their guys undefeated.”
Atlas, who coached the likes of Mike Tyson, Barry McGuigan and Alexander Povetkin, explained how the core issue with boxing ‘pre-Turki’ was that promoters would mostly look to make the biggest “non-competitive fights” that they could.
“Every once in a while, they’d throw you a bone, but it wasn’t enough, the fans were starving and then Turki Alalshikh came along from Saudi with the money and he’s made fights that the sport needs.”
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Consequently, Atlas believes that a partnership between Alalshikh and Dana White could result in a new era for boxing where the best finally fight the best on a regular basis.
“Dana White does that; he’s been doing that forever over at the UFC. I know it’s one guy in charge and people call him a dictator, but if a dictator ain’t chopping heads off and he’s getting things done, sometimes maybe you could learn a little something.
“Maybe if the two of them join together and if Dana White brings his model to boxing to have the infrastructure, to have the rules, the enforcement of rules to have the kind of fights that people want, Teddy would say ‘Hey Dana, come on in this way.’”
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UFC CEO Dana White teases he could be set to enter the boxing industry
During a live Q&A with fans before Callum Walsh’s homecoming bout, which was broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass on Friday evening, Dana White would commit to his long-awaited boxing venture.
“There will be some big announcements soon,” said White on his future involvement in boxing, noting how after a number of years pondering the move, his mind is finally made up.
“I never say anything that I don’t do, ever – I’ve never said anything like that, and we’ve been kicking the whole boxing thing around for a long time, but you’ve never heard me commit and say ‘I’m in’… Well, I’m in.”
With boxing in a better place than it has been for years, could there be room for Dana White and Turki Alalshikh to become the faces of the sports promotion?
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