Canelo-Crawford: Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing explained as UFC president moves into new sport

White is finally moving into boxing promotion after years of comments - but what exactly is Zuffa Boxing, the company with links to the UFC and Turki Alalshikh?

Zuffa Boxing and Dana White enter the boxing fray properly for the first time this week for the mega-fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Terence Crawford.

Well-known in combat sports for his involvement in the rise of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), White has long made noises about entering the world of boxing.

Over the past decade he has complained about the state of promotion in the sport - leading to claims that he has a solution with Zuffa Boxing, a venture supported by boxing’s kingmaker, Turki Alalshikh.

As the world of the sweet science gets to have its first proper glimpse of White’s plans for boxing, what exactly is Zuffa Boxing - and who is the man behind it?

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Who is Dana White?

White previously boxed as a teenager, and when he was put off becoming a professional over fears of neurological damage, he set up his own gym in Boston with former Golden Gloves champion Peter Welch.

He also worked as a ‘boxercise’ coach in Boston and Las Vegas, before moving into other martial arts, which ultimately led to his involvement in MMA.

Having worked with the UFC whilst managing combatants Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, White discovered that the organisation was up for sale. He encouraged friends Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta to purchase the UFC, and upon completion of the deal, White was appointed president of the organisation in 2001.

It took a while for the nearly-bankrupt business to turn around, but by 2008 Forbes estimated the UFC to be worth $1.1billion, with White credited for the success. In 2023 he became the UFC’s CEO.

What is the difference between Zuffa Boxing and TKO Boxing?

White has had plenty of time to think about his approach to boxing, first making noises of entering the sport back in 2017, publicly stating his intention of promoting in the sweet science at the time of UFC star Conor McGregor’s fight with Floyd Mayweather.

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Right from the very start, White labelled the venture ‘Zuffa Boxing’, implying that it was a division of Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC.

Mayweather’s last professional fight was in 2017 against Conor McGregor (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

However, when Zuffa merged with WWE in 2023 to form TKO, the brand name faded in usage. As such, when White’s efforts to enter boxing built up steam, it was referred to as TKO Boxing, borrowing the name of the new parent company.

But in June it was formerly announced that the brand would take the Zuffa name, ran by the partnership of TKO Holdings and Sela, the Saudi Arabian events company overseen by Alalshikh.

Whilst some outlets still use the two names interchangeably, Zuffa Boxing is the chosen moniker on social media and other promotional materials.

Zuffa Boxing also refers to the league White plans to set up that will see fighters pitted together, modeled on the UFC.

Dana White’s previous forays into boxing promotion

Zuffa Boxing is not the first attempt by White to dabble in boxing, having first done so with the UFC in 2018. Roy Jones Jr’s bout with Scott Sigmon in 2018 was shown on UFC’s Fight Pass, a streaming service for the sport.

In the following years, other boxing cards have been shown on the service, often staged days before a UFC event. Irish fighter Callum Walsh has quietly become a star on the MMA streaming platform, with White a big fan.

Walsh will be in action on the undercard of Canelo-Crawford, another sign of White’s hands-on role in his career. Walsh’s link to the UFC CEO stems from legendary coach Freddie Roach and promoter Tom Loeffler.

Loeffler’s 360 Promotions have worked with White on UFC Fight Pass since 2022, with that partnership currently planned to continue for the next five years.

An experienced name in the sport, Loeffler has previously worked with stars such as Gennady Golovkin, and brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.

According to The Ring, Zuffa Boxing hope to stage 12 events for each of the next five years, a total of 60 shows.

Four of those cards each year would be ‘mega matchups’, pitting together stars in line with the clash between Canelo and Crawford.

Already Zuffa Boxing have put together another card, which will in fact take place before Canelo-Crawford.

A card mainly filled with prospects will go ahead in Las Vegas on Thursday, September 11, with the main event a world title fight.

Anthony Olascuaga will defend his World Boxing Organisation (WBO) flyweight title against Puerto Rican Juan Carlos Camacho, live on DAZN.

What are Dana White’s plans for boxing?

Whilst Zuffa Boxing initially appears to be just another promoter, albeit with strong links to Alalshikh, White has other plans. It appears the businessman wants to copy the UFC in having centralised matchmaking for world titles, with hopes of bypassing the four major belts currently awarded by the various sanctioning bodies.

MMA--UFC-White-Paramount (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

White told ESPN in March: “It’s all going to go away.

“We’re going to have the basic weight classes that started everything. There’s going to be one belt. It’ll be like the UFC, the model that we have.

“You know how you’re going to know who the champion is? Because they’re going to fight their way up through the gauntlet. And once you get into the top five, you know who the five baddest dudes in the heavyweight division are. And then you’ll find out who the champion is. WBC, IBF, WBA, etc, they deal with those traditional promoters that are out there right now; we're not going to do that.”

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