'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Dana White and Turki Alalshikh recently announced the introduction of a new boxing league on the latter's official social media channels. The multi-year deal between Alalshikh and TKO Group Holdings will see the UFC CEO along with WWE President Nick Khan spearheading the new boxing league.
Turki Alalshikh, in the announcement, stated:
"I am very happy today. I give the flag of boxing to the best man who can handle it. He have a tough job now, but I'm sure he will be delivering to the people and the fans a magnificent league and get boxing great again."
White added that the format will be similar to the UFC where the best will fight the best, and the promotion can put on the fights fans want to see. Winners will move up in rankings to fight for the title.
Trending
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
The UFC head honcho also assured that further announcements will be made soon, closer to the launch date of the boxing league.
Turki Alalshikh has been spearheading blockbuster boxing events in the recent past, with his Riyadh Season initiatives. However, even Dana White has claimed that even though the events featured exciting fights, they haven't been lucrative for the promoters.
With the new partnership, Alalshikh appears to be moving to a profit-oriented structure, as Dana White is a proven promoter, having turned the UFC into a multi-billion dollar company.
Dana White claims boxing's decline helped UFC's growth
In an interview with Forbes reporter Matt Craig in December, Dana White was asked about the expectation for the promotion when he became the company's president after his friends Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the company in 2001.
White replied that the question was asked by many before and his answer has always been yes. He wholeheartedly believed that the UFC would be a success, but pointed out several factors that helped him, one of them being boxing's decline.
He said:
"The question is, is the timing right? And the answer to that question is, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. With the decline of boxing, technology growing as fast as it did, streaming, the list goes on and on."
Check out Dana White's comments below (0:42):
:
