Six months after its first card, Zuffa Boxing’s business model has become less clear.
The boxing promotion, launched with the goal of creating an organized boxing league similar to UFC, has had to balance its long-term goals with recent demands from star fighters. Zuffa and UFC are both under the TKO umbrella, but TKO only owns 40% of the boxing promotion, with Saudi Arabian entertainment company Sela owning the other 60%.
One of Zuffa’s first big signings, Conor Benn, is set to fight Ryan Garcia for the WBC welterweight title on Sep. 12. The event will be streamed on Paramount+, Zuffa’s media rights partner, but will not be a Zuffa event, as it’s being co-promoted alongside Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden-Boy Promotions.
Benn has yet to fight on a Zuffa card, with his first fight under the promotion coming on an event organized by Ring Magazine, which is owned by Saudi government official and Zuffa co-founder Turki Alalshikh. While his fight with Garcia is undeniably a massive event, selling over $6.3 million in tickets the first day, it brings into question whether Zuffa is turning its attention to co-promoting super fights rather than attempting to build up its own events.
UFC president and lead Zuffa promoter Dana White previously said he had “no interest” in working with any of the four major sanctioning bodies, saying he wanted to create his own world title. With Zuffa now nine events into its first year, he appears to have changed his stance.
