Saudi Arabia’s PIF wants to create a league similar to the UFC

It has been reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is looking to inject $5 billion into boxing to create a league similar to the UFC, aiming to bring together major boxing promotions. The plan involves the Saudis purchasing minority stakes in top promotions such as Matchroom, Queensberry, and Top Rank.

Led by Turki Alalshikh, discussions are still underway, and no official comments have been made by the promoters. However, Gervonta Davis believes this initiative may face significant obstacles.

Gervonta Davis mocks Frank Martin after an unexpected move in a tense face-off

If Turki Alalshikh‘s vision comes to fruition, with support from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it could drastically alter the boxing landscape by ensuring that top fighters compete against each other regularly.

Davis’ doubts

Currently, boxing is governed by several sanctioning bodies-WBC, IBF, WBA, and WBO-that each have their own champions, often preventing titleholders from facing off.

“I mean, that would never happen,” said a sceptical Davis.

“Because everybody don’t agree [with each other], everybody [is] not on the same page”.

The idea isn’t new, but has been hindered by promoters’ reluctance to share profits and risk their champions’ statuses. While the Saudi proposal is ambitious, it must overcome deep-seated industry fragmentation.

“We carefully planned our activities for the last six months,” Alalshikh said in May.

“We are spending the money to [commercialize] our season and at the same time to test the market and know all the secrets about the market.

“And now we have a lot of information and we have our own studies and we think from what we tested in the last six months, there is big opportunity in boxing. But you must improve the market. You must fix all the problems.”