TKO Boxing has officially received a promoter license in Nevada. This clears the way UFC CEO Dana White will promote the upcoming battle between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
On Wednesday, the Nevada Athletics Board voted unanimously to approve TKO’s boxing license and planned event, similar to the scheduled Canelo v Crawford event at Allegant Stadium in Las Vegas on September 13th.
Although mostly formal for promotions of big powers like TKO, the commission must approve the license of the state promoter. Marc Ratner, Senior Vice President of UFC Regulation Affairs and Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer of TKO, both attended the meeting.
In addition to the Canelo vs Crawford battle, this is a plan to host many events in Las Vegas, and the new Zuffa boxing promotion, scheduled to kick off in 2026, will also be officially launched.
“We’re going to bring a lot of fights here,” Ratner told the committee at the hearing. “The league will start next year.”
Supported by funding from Saudi Arabia, Zuffa Boxing is led by executives like White under the ownership of TKO Group Holdings, but the company has not put forward a bill for any event. Instead, it is Saudi Arabia’s general entertainment fund, where Torki Aralsiv, who is responsible for the finances behind the promotion with White and others, runs the show itself effectively.
It took White to get involved in boxing again after repeating his plans to crossover into another combat sport following the UFC and his own power slap league.
Canelo vs. Crawford is the first official event, the first official event to promote the actual Zuffa boxing organization in 2026, hoping that a full event schedule and new broadcasting agreement will accompany the launch of those cards.
“We’re telling you that we expect boxing organizations to average 12 games over the next five years, 12 cards a year,” TKO’s president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said in May. “But I have put together that plan and work with a friend in apparent Saudi Arabia.
“Regardless of them, we aim to do one or four different superfights a year. We’ll see how that unfolds. But obviously, we’ll call Canelo/Crawford’s September matchup one of them. And with that undercard, we have a lot of undercard fights that our TV/media partners may employ boxing.”