TKO Exec: Saudi money funded Conor Benn’s Zuffa Boxing deal

Conor Benn’s signing with Zuffa Boxing has been a controversial topic over the past week.Benn reportedly received a $15 million contract for one fight, which is significantly more than most – if not all – UFC athletes make per fight. Because Dana White is the head of both the UFC and Zuffa Boxing, this has led to a lot of criticism from fighters who go to work inside the Octagon. Former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley didn’t believe Benn would get paid that much, while Michael Page expressed disappointment that White would place so much value on someone outside the promotion where he “built his reputation.”

However, during a quarterly financial call on Wednesday, TKO Group Holdings (the parent company of the UFC and Zuffa Boxing) president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro attempted to quell some of that controversy by revealing that Benn’s signing was fully funded by the company’s partners in Saudi Arabia, including entertainment conglomerate Sela and Turki Alalshikh. As a result, there is no guarantee that Benn will compete on a weekly Zuffa Boxing card streaming on Paramount+. The plan is for Benn to compete on a bigger card instead, similar to the Terence Crawford-Canelo Alvarez event last September.“First of all, I would say this story has taken on a life of its own, and that’s largely because Eddie Hearn stirs the pot in a very fictional way,” Shapiro said. “So, as you know, our partner in Zuffa Boxing is Sela – they are the financier. In addition to the year-long series of fight cards that will appear exclusively on Paramount+, we have described time and time again during these calls and conferences that we also plan to stage approximately two to four superfights per year – Canelo-Crawford is an example – some of which TKO will promote and/or sell the media rights for, of course, additional fees.

“We at TKO with Sela collectively identified Conor Benn as someone we wanted to sign for one of those super fights in 2026. That’s it. One fight in 2026. Conor was a free agent. Dana White and Nick Khan went out in that order and signed Conor. Let me be clear: we signed him for just one fight. That’s all we’re talking about here. Now, of course, we’re hoping he’ll eventually fight in our fight.” Zuffa Boxing series exclusively on Paramount+, but for now this is just one fight. No different from other super fights we plan with Sela great partner Turki Alalshikh covers the wallet. Again, no different than exactly what we did with the Canelo vs. Crawford fight.

The roster so far

The date for Benn’s Zuffa Boxing debut has not been announced. The promotion on Tuesday unveiled a list of 96 athletes – including Benn – signed to date.