Dana White clarifies format of new boxing league | Sports News

Dana White gave more insight into how his new boxing promotion with Turki Alalshikh will work, once it is up and running.

White’s new venture with Alalshikh will provide fans with fights that they “want to see” and is slated to be different from how current governing bodies in boxing are currently operating. As it stands, there are four sanctioning bodies, with its own champions across 17 weight classes.

Because of how boxing’s hierarchy is structured at present, the MMA boss hopes to use the UFC’s model to streamline the league and make it more appealing to fans. In an interview with ESPN, the UFC boss shared how the league will be different from what boxing is currently like.

“It’s all going to go away. There’s going to be one belt… It’ll be like the UFC,” White said, per ESPN. “The model is the model that we have [in UFC]… WBC, IBF, WBA, etc., etc. They will deal with those traditional promoters that are out there that exist right now. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to have the basic weight classes that started everything. We will have one champion.

“And 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. They will defend their titles and that’s how it’ll work.”

White also believes that other promotions won’t look to partner with his new promotion, adding: “I’m sure the WBC and the WBA and all those guys, they’ll still exist. They just won’t work with us.”

Along with streamlining the process, White also claimed that the new promotion will be quicker than what is currently seen in boxing. One of the criticisms the UFC boss had for the sport was the fact that cards took too long to finish, often leading to longer than usual experiences. With his promotion, the 55-year-old claims the new system will be quicker and more engaging to fans in the long run.

“The run of show will run faster. It’s not going to take nine hours to see four fights,” he said on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ [h/t CBS Sports]. “These guys put on a fight and then have a podcast and put on another fight and have a podcast. The show is going to run like the UFC does with fight after fight after fight.”

Don’t Miss

As the new boxing promotion attempts to take on the established promotions, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman shared with ESPN that he is not concerned with White and Alalshikh’s new venture. “I think anything that comes into boxing is sensational,” he told the outlet.

“[Regarding a campaign], I know a lot of people … started speculating and finding conspiracy theories or whatever, but absolutely not. I think the WBC should make its position public, which is [TKO boxing] is a good opportunity because we have always supported any movement, any company, any tournaments that have been put together.

“I truly believe that with the multibillion joint venture that is supposed to be TKO and UFC and WWE and what His Excellency has done in just under two years, it should be a great thing for the sport.”