September 13 will mark a historic moment for Dana White, as one of his long-time dreams finally becomes reality. Canelo Alvarez is set to face Terence Crawford in a Super Middleweight title showdown at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with the blockbuster bout streaming worldwide on Netflix. The event is being promoted by the UFC president in collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority chairman, Turki Alalshikh, and Saudi events company Sela.
Back in March, the group revealed plans to launch a brand-new boxing league, an ambitious move tied to White’s long-standing mission to fix a sport he has often criticized as broken, dating back to his Zuffa Boxing project. Now, this mega fight between Alvarez and Crawford appears to be the first major step in White’s larger vision for boxing’s future. However, the UFC head honcho has another vision that he plans to implement next year.
Dana White Aims to Fix Boxing Through UFC-Inspired DWCS Model
It is no secret that when the Fertitta brothers and Dana White bought the UFC back in 2001 for just $2 million, the sport was on life support. MMA faced widespread sanctions and was still considered taboo in much of the United States. After investing nearly $40 million, Lorenzo Fertitta was ready to walk away, until White convinced his longtime friend to take one last gamble with The Ultimate Fighter in 2005.
The gamble paid off. The iconic finale between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar is widely credited with saving the company, something White himself has often acknowledged. Since then, White has gone on to launch another fan-favorite product, Dana White’s Contender Series.
The show gives up-and-coming fighters a chance to compete in what’s essentially a live job interview, with UFC contracts awarded at the end of the night. Now, after the success of DWCS, White has revealed plans to bring a similar concept to the world of boxing. In a recent interview with Vegas PBS, White revealed his grand plans.
He said, “Basically, in 2026, I’m gonna start my show, and what I’m gonna do is basically like the Contender Series, the best will fight the best, undefeated guys will fight undefeated guys, and what you will do is, you will care about the first fight of the night and not just the main event.”
White also weighed in on creating new stars from the get-go, like the UFC did in the case of fighters like Sean O’Malley, Jack Della Maddalena, and Jamahal Hill, all of whom are reigning or former division champions.
He added, “So I will build stars, put on great fights, and then these guys will graduate, you know, and fight with (Turki Alalshikh) and they will determine how much they get paid.”
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Beyond this, White’s ultimate goal is to transform boxing into something resembling the UFC, a unified combat sports league. He has even compared his vision to the structure of the NBA and NFL.
White continued, “What we did with the UFC is turn the UFC into an NFL, an NBA. There’s a league, you reinvest into the sport, and other people want to invest in the sport, whether it’s sponsors or any of these financial firms, whatever it may be. That’s what needs to be done with boxing, too, and that’s what I’m going to attempt to do.”
He concluded his statement by vowing to fix the sport of boxing, which he classified as busted. “Listen, there’s no ego or arrogance when I talk about getting into boxing and trying to ‘fix it.’ This is a busted sport.”
Whether White’s boxing venture will succeed remains uncertain. One of the biggest hurdles he faces is the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which was designed to prevent anti-competitive practices by promoters. The Act restricts promoters from controlling titles and rankings while also requiring greater financial transparency.
To push forward, the UFC and parent company TKO have been backing an amendment known as the Ali Revival Act, which would roll back some of these restrictions. However, the effort took a major hit on Tuesday when the California State Athletic Commission withdrew its planned support after facing heavy backlash during a public meeting.
If the bill ultimately fails, White could find it harder to challenge established boxing promoters like Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren. Still, the UFC CEO insists he is ready to push forward and compete in the boxing world over the coming years. It will be interesting to see how his vision for TKO Boxing unfolds in the future.
