Years ago, maybe a decade ago, we said there would be co promoted MMA and boxing events one day and fast forward to 2025, we were right.
Be careful what you wish for.
KSI’s Misfits Promotions regularly has MMA and boxing events on the same cards and events he does.
But now TKO Boxing getting involved in boxing is a game changer for that potential
Now, at the same time, boxing fans and MMA fans may not want to see co promoted events and that is perfectly alright.
However, the potential to market boxers from the UFC powerhouse marketing machine now that TKO and Zuffa Boxing are fully into boxing, cannot be denied.
TKO is lead by Turki Alalshikh and Dana White, the latter the president of the UFC. The UFC had already been doing a bit of boxing promotion with the Fight Pass app
for Callum Walsh fights which had been doing well anyway.
Why The UFC And Boxing Are More Closely Aligned Than Ever
But their first fight properly with Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford was outstanding, an overwhelming success in all ways.
If the UFC get behind TKO more which we expect they will as the fights start getting made next year, and when TKO start signing fighters to their roster, which they will do soon, the opportunity to promote big name boxers will be there.
What’s more, boxing can get way more new fans as well from this from the UFC and from MMA as well, which is a great thing. The UFC have great potential to cross promote both sports not necessarily through events, but by online promotion, interviews, fighter profiles, shoulder programing and so on.
What not bring in some boxers into already popular UFC shows even like ‘Looking For A Fight?’ or ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ — imagine the brilliant viewing boxers as coaches on the show would be if some of the head MMA coaches brought in boxers as boxing coaches on the show?
Obviously professional boxers TKO and Zuffa Boxing sign can help with standup fighting for MMA and UFC fighters in their boxing departments as well.
The upside for professional boxing for the UFC hype machine to get behind our sport is immense, it must be tapped into anyway by TKO and Zuffa Boxing to help get their brands and organizations off the ground.
Obviously they are separate brands from the UFC but the UFC mega phone can be utilized to great effect to promote big name new boxers TKO are going to sign.
Alas, there are also things UFC can do for boxers that no other organization can do which will be a big pull factor to sign some fighters soon for TKO as well.
