Zuffa Boxing Reveals Terms of Looming TV Deal

Zuffa Boxing Structure

Shapiro outlined what the Zuffa Boxing product will look like:

• League Format: A stable of roughly 200 fighters under contract.

• Annual Events: 12 to 16 fight cards per year, with media rights currently being sold to networks and streaming platforms.

• Superfights: Two to four global mega-events annually, staged in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season, following the model of Crawford-Canelo.

Crucially, Shapiro emphasized that Zuffa won’t shoulder fighter costs for these superfights.

“We don’t pay to bring the fighters in, We don’t take any risk on that. We have the Saudis partner in this,” Shapiro said, “We promote the event, we market the event, we stage the event, we produce the event, we do the media rights deal … and for all of that we are paid a fee.”

A Busy Combat Sports Calendar

With the UFC set to shift to Paramount and CBS in 2026 under a $7.7 billion, seven-year media rights agreement, Zuffa Boxing will slot into an already packed TKO combat sports portfolio.

Dana White detailed what fans can expect across all platforms:

• 44 UFC events annually (Fight Nights + PPVs).

• 12 Power Slap events.

• 14 UFC BJJ events.

• 12–16 Zuffa Boxing events, plus up to 4 megafights each year.

“Boxing isn’t on TV right now, nobody has a TV deal,” White told the IMPAULSIVE podcast. “I’ll end up nailing down a television deal for boxing, and we’ll do 16 or 18 boxing events next year.”

What It Means for Boxing

If finalized, the Zuffa Boxing deal could reshape the sport’s broadcast landscape. With boxing fragmented across multiple platforms, White and Shapiro see a chance to centralize a year-round product while also capitalizing on Saudi-backed super cards that have drawn unprecedented viewership figures.

For a sport long in search of consistent presentation and star-driven promotion, Zuffa Boxing could be the biggest shakeup since the HBO/Showtime era ended.