Dana White continues to have the “hot hand,” as Paramount announced on Monday that it has added Zuffa Boxing to its growing portfolio. The streaming company now holds the media rights to Zuffa Boxing, which begins in January 2026, but is this the “landmark” deal that TKO Group Holdings Inc. claims it is?
Fresh off the White 60 Minutes interview on CBS (CBS is part of Paramount/Skydance) with Jon Wertheim, which aired on Sunday night, the announcement on Monday morning caused significant waves on social media and the news wire worldwide. It was announced that Paramount, a Skydance corporation, and TKO Group Holdings Inc. signed a “long-term media rights deal,” making Paramount+ the “exclusive home of Zuffa Boxing in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.” The deal begins in January and will feature 12 events a year, “with plans to grow that number in subsequent years.”
For die-hard boxing fans who hope that Zuffa Boxing will make it to network TV, the announcement leaves the door open while using vague language. “The bouts will be available via Paramount’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform Paramount+, with the potential for select events to be simulcast on CBS, America’s leading broadcast network, and other Paramount platforms.”
Although this was an announcement more than a month in the making, did it land as hard as all parties involved were hoping it would? Was it a “landmark” deal as TKO described it in their press release? Is there internal competition between Dana White and Turki Alalshikh, as a more groundbreaking deal was announced simultaneously from the gaming world?
Is It A Landmark Deal Or Isn’t It; That Is The Question
In August, TKO made one of the biggest splashes in combat sports when it signed a media rights deal with Paramount for the exclusive right to feature the UFC on its platform in the U.S. The deal was announced as a 7-year one worth $7.7 billion, which begins in January 2026. That was what you would consider a “landmark deal,” which by definition is “an event, discovery, or change marking an important stage or turning point in something,” according to Oxford Languages and Google.
After that deal was completed, White publicly stated that the Zuffa Boxing media rights deal would follow shortly thereafter. A couple of weeks passed, and no announcement was made, but White provided an update during Canelo-Crawford fight week that the announcement would be made soon. Then, a week later, on the Impaulsive podcast, White told the podcast host Logan Paul that the new Zuffa Boxing deal would be announced soon and that it would include “16-18 Zuffa Boxing events.” Then TKO’s CEO, Mark Shapiro, would go on The Varsity with John Ourand podcast and say that they would “produce 12-16 events a year,” along with “2-4 super fights a year like Canelo-Crawford.”
From the looks of it, they were both a little off with their projections. The communication appears to be off between TKO and White, as the official announcement was on the lower end of Shapiro’s estimation and way off of White’s. This could be something as simple as “too many chefs in the kitchen,” leading to mixed messaging to the public.
Although Front Office Sports reported that the length of the deal is five years (FightsATW reached out to Paramount/Skydance for confirmation), the announcement did not include the annual dollar amount or the overall value of the deal. How can an announcement be labeled “landmark” when the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed? What was historic was the announcement of EA (Electronic Arts) Sports, the sports video game company, being purchased by a group of investors led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for $55 billion. That is groundbreaking and has shaken up the gaming industry. The UFC’s deal shook up the combat sports world, making it a significant event. This Zuffa Boxing deal isn’t any of those, so labeling it as a “landmark” deal for now appears to be more hyperbole than reality.
In the end, the Zuffa Boxing era begins in January, and having more boxing isn’t a bad thing. There will be huge expectations, as White has talked a big game when referring to how he plans to change boxing. We are about three months away from finding out whether he was on to something or if he is just a heck of a salesman.
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