Conor Benn signing with Zuffa Boxing was big news in the sporting world. Not only was it proof that Zuffa is going bigger than its monthly Meta Apex shows, it was a reminder of the disparate finances separating the world of boxing and MMA.
Benn is reportedly getting $15 million for one fight, which is a lot more than anyone in the UFC is making. And Benn isn’t even one of the boxing world’ mega-stars either. That’s led to some MMA fighters like Sean O’Malley and Michael “Venom” Page questioning the payscale.
Enter Mark Shapiro, who spoke on the issue during UFC and Zuffa parent company TKO’s quarterly earnings call to explain the situation. In short: it’s not TKO paying Benn, it’s the Saudis.
“Our partner in Zuffa Boxing is Sela,” Shapiro said, referencing the Saudi Arabian government-funded entertainment company. “They’re the financial backer entity. Beyond the year long series of fight cards that will appear exclusively on Paramount+, we’ve described again and again on these calls and conferences that we also plan to stage approximately two to four super fights per year, Canelo vs. Crawford being an example. Some of which TKO will promote and or sell the media rights or incremental fees.”
While Saudi boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh worked with a number of boxing promoters over the years to stage events during Riyadh Season and beyond, it sounds like most of these events will now be done under the Zuffa Boxing umbrella. That includes the upcoming Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov fight on Netflix, amongst others.
“The reported purse which was around $15 million, I’m not confirming or denying, that Conor will be paid for this super fight in 2026 is not TKO going out of pocket,” he said. “Sela, led by our great partner Turki Alalshikh, is covering the purse. Once again, no different than exactly what we did with the Canelo vs. Crawford fight.”
While TKO’s finances are looking better than ever, the company is navigating a tricky situation where it needs to spend big money to take over boxing without having an open fighter revolt on its hands in UFC. At a certain point, all these massive purses for Conor Benn and Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano and Francis Ngannou outside the UFC are going to wake fighters up. Then it’s only the UFC’s ironclad contracts and a willingness to shelve top talent that will keep a lid on the situation.
