Frank Warren has been shot outside a Barking theatre and punched by Mike Tyson in the Grosvenor House Hotel, so he is well versed in the gloveless battles of a sport he calls the crap magnet. Now he has launched a potentially billion-dollar fight after the creation of an organisation headed by Saudi Arabia’s boxing power-broker and a man hounded out of Boston by one of America’s most notorious gangsters.
Warren, the Queensberry Promotions chief, has sent “letters before action” to two rival promoters, TKO Group Holdings and Sela, claiming they have breached contracts. They say the claims are unfounded. The row is significant because last year those organisations formed Zuffa Boxing with the aim of remodelling the sport on UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) lines — getting a roster of fighters, ditching the existing sanctioning bodies and having a single belt.
Conor Benn has left Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom operation for Zuffa and one $15 million (about £11.1 million) fight, which we now know is against Regis Prograis on the same bill as Tyson Fury’s comeback at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April. That event is on Netflix rather than DAZN, where Warren, Fury’s long-term promoter, and Hearn have deals. Here we try to wade through the murk.
Who are TKO, Sela and Zuffa — and what’s this row all about?
TKO Group Holdings was set up in 2023 after a merger between Zuffa, the parent company of UFC, and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Sela is a sporting arm of PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Zuffa Boxing was founded by the UFC chief executive Dana White and Turki Alalshikh, the government official who has led Saudi’s push into boxing.
Benn joined Zuffa after departing Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom operation
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Alalshikh has worked closely with Warren and Hearn to stage major Riyadh fights involving Fury, Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua. White is a close ally of President Trump and was introduced to the crowd just 15 minutes into Trump’s election victory speech in 2024. “Nobody’s done a better job in sport,” gushed Trump.
White is used to out-of-ring fights too, and was previously forced to flee Boston for Las Vegas when the homicidal crime boss Whitey Bulger, portrayed by Johnny Depp in the film Black Mass, demanded protection money.
In short, TKO and Sela collectively want Zuffa to take over boxing. The problem for them is Warren says he had contracts with both, which states that Queensberry needed to be involved in any future deals. The letters sent to TKO and Sela do not seek a stated sum, but TKO president Mark Shapiro has said UFC is worth $20 billion and that Zuffa Boxing can become as big. In a statement, Sela said it was “disappointed” by the claims and “reject them in their entirety”.
Don’t people want one belt?
Many do and the splintered divisions are often cited as one reason for a drop in interest in boxing. And since Alalshikh entered boxing with PIF’s money, more big matches have been made.
UFC CEO White has moved to set up Zuffa with Alalshikh
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However, concerns about a UFC model were raised when it paid £281 million to former fighters in an antitrust settlement last year. The suit claimed fighters up to 2017 had been unable to negotiate other promotional options. In effect, they were bound by a monopoly. Other legal action concerning later fighters remain active.
Zuffa Boxing also wants to water down what is collectively known as the Muhammad Ali Act, which could mean Zuffa becomes promoter, manager and sanctioning body. Some critics fear that this could lead to fighters losing money and rights, although others will welcome the lack of sanctioning fees: this month the WBC stripped Shakur Stevenson of his lightweight belt over non-payment of a $120,000 bill.
Who have Zuffa signed?
This week Zuffa revealed a roster of 96 boxers including Benn and the IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, but lacking the sport’s biggest names. On Wednesday Usyk’s team denied a widespread social media rumour that he had signed up.
White expects to attract more stars as Zuffa grows and has boasted about the ease with which he had entered boxing. Reflecting on Hearn’s dismay at Benn’s exit, he said: “I’m beating up babies.”
Zuffa has a $100 million deal with Paramount+ to screen 12 cards this year, but its biggest event to date was last year’s Netflix bout between Saul “Canelo” Álvarez and Terence Crawford.
Usyk’s team have denied reports linking the fighter with Zuffa
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News of Benn’s $15 million deal did not go down well with all. One of UFC’s leading fighters, Sean O’Malley, said: “He is supposed to be a pretty big name in boxing, but I’ve never f***ing heard of him.”
Shapiro was quick to appease any dissent by pointing out the money was coming from Sela rather than TKO.
Meanwhile, Shapiro has claimed Zuffa will promote Fury’s comeback against Arslanbek Makhmudov, which could spark another dispute. Fury, himself, has close links to Netflix through the At Home With the Furys docuseries.
Anything else?
Yes. Alalshikh bought The Ring magazine, known as the Bible of Boxing, in 2024. On Wednesday the publication posted a social media message that dismayed some traditionalists with what seemed to be overt propaganda. The message claimed Queensberry is in financial trouble and leaked the legal action before a Fabio Wardley-Daniel Dubois press conference to boost slow ticket sales. However, the most recent accounts filed with Companies House show an operating profit of almost £15 million, while tickets had not yet gone on sale.
How does it end?
Probably with a lot of bitterness and a settlement before it gets near a courtroom. The one thing that we can be sure of is boxers will always follow the money.