Dana White is always trying one venture after the next and does not just stick to the million-dollar UFC business. From making Power Slap into a $750 million venture (in his own words, on The Pete Sebastian Show) to starting a new boxing league with Turki Alalshikh, the boss man looks like he’s on fire at the moment.
Yes, the fans were apprehensive to hear about the new boxing league, and rightfully so. The UFC is notorious for abysmal fighter pay and the antitrust lawsuit where the UFC had to pay fighters (led by Cung Le) a whopping $375 million is a testament to that.
Now, TKO boxing’s apparent boxing pay scale has been revealed by a fighter contract. Clocked N’ Loaded revealed the whole payment structure for the boxers under the Dana White and Turki Alalshik’s boxing league. The starting base salary would be $20,000 for a 10-round fight by an unranked boxer. This base salary can go up to $750,000 when defending the “company” championship.
A pretty huge amount, right? Wrong. According to Boxing Scene, this pay scale indicates that the TKO league boxers will house younger and mid-level boxers. UFC fighters already know what it feels like to stick by the rules (that sometimes works against them). And now it’s turn for the boxers under the new league headed by Dana White to see how he likes to operate his promotions. However, it seems like fans do agree with Oscar De La Hoya, who does thinks that the UFC boss man knows nothing about the business of boxing.
Fans chime in with their opinion on the pay structure
“Dana White doesn’t know boxing,” De La Hoya calmly put his verdict on the table while speaking to Fight Hub TV. “We’ve had interesting people come into the sport trying to promote, manage, this and that over the years, and try to do it the wrong way.” And it looks like some fans agree with ‘The Golden Boy’.
One follower remarked, “Dana knows nothing about boxing,” while another said, “That’s awful, bro.” One fan was bewildered by the pay structure and commented, “What is this.”
A netizen was passionate against the payment structure. They wrote a whole paragraph saying, “Dana pay boxers in other leagues are still gonna be making 10x that, the focus will be on the new company and the new boxing promotion but it’ll die down not after long, watch ppl will talk about how they’re trying to give these boxers UFC money and it’s a huge bump down from what they were making before.” Now another fan refuted this logic and commented, “Dana White will eventually dominate the boxing world. You get paid what you generate nerd cry.”
In the UFC, the minimum base pay is $12,000 while higher-tier fighters can expect to earn between $500,000 and $3,000,000 per fight approximately. On the other hand, the new boxing league is not paying even $1 million to the title defenders. Both famous boxing legends and UFC stars have seen more greens than what White is proposing for the new entrees. Conor McGregor for instance, received $3 million purse for UFC 202, according to MMA Junkie.
One follower was genuinely concerned and wrote, “Did Turki fu— up by getting this guy involved in boxing?” Another criticized the below $1 million pay for the defending champ fight and said, “Sh…..ttt money. L..ol.750k in nothing.”
The new venture announced that the TKO boxing promotion is not going to stage its first fight card before 2026. “I’m going to live in my little bubble and do my own thing,” White said on his podcast. However, with all the new rules and laws in place for the boxing promotion, will this usher in a new era in boxing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The post Fans’ Worst Fear Comes True as Dana White’s Boxing Pay Leaves Champions Earning Less Than $1 Million appeared first on EssentiallySports.
