Zuffa Boxing is planning 12 to 16 events in 2026, including international fight cards and up to four marquee superfights per year, according to TKO Group Holdings CEO Mark Shapiro during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings announcement on Tuesday.

The promotion, which launched in January 2026 as a joint venture between TKO and Saudi Arabia’s Sela, has already secured a media rights deal with Paramount+ covering the United States, Canada and Latin America, with additional territories currently in negotiations.

“We are encouraged by our initial progress in 2025 in signing a media rights deal with Paramount Plus in the United States, Canada and Latin America,” Shapiro said. “We are signing a robust portfolio of boxers to our roster and are already planning a 2026 fight card calendar that will take us outside the United States.”

He added: “All I can say is: be careful. Our goal is to build this into a behemoth.”

Super Fights and the Sela Partnership

In addition to Zuffa Boxing’s regular calendar of events, Shapiro said the organization will host two to four superfights per year in partnership with Sela. The first confirmed event under this structure will be Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov, which will take place on April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with Zuffa Boxing and Sela listed as co-hosts, and will be broadcast on Netflix.

Shapiro also addressed the Conor Benn transfer that made headlines this month, explaining that it is a one-fight deal financed by Sela – not directly by Zuffa Boxing – under the same structure as last year’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford event. He dismissed criticism from Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, claiming he was “stirring the pot in a fictional way” and said the story “took on a life of its own”.

“It’s only one fight!” Shapiro said.

The superfight model is designed to build competition and showcase Zuffa Boxing fighters against the backdrop of larger events, expanding the profile of the promotion’s lineup while Sela absorbs the costs of the main fights.

How the venture works

Shapiro presented the financial structure of the joint venture in exceptional detail. Sela finances all operations, while TKO has no obligation to finance. TKO charges an annual management fee of $10 million to run the promotion, as well as an additional $10 million service fee for each superfight event and commissions from media rights deals negotiated on behalf of the venture.

TKO acquired a 25% stake in Zuffa Boxing in 2025 and expects to achieve a roughly 50/50 ownership stake in the company within a few years, hitting performance milestones that Shapiro says are already within reach.

“The way we have structured the joint venture with our partners in Saudi Arabia, specifically Sela, is that they are financing it,” Shapiro said. “We have no obligation to finance. We intend to build goodwill.”

Zuffa Boxing is treated as an equity method investment in TKO’s financial statements, which means its revenues and losses are not consolidated in TKO’s main figures. This project is included in the “Corporations and other” segment of TKO, next to PBR and general administrative expenses.

The bigger picture

TKO reported full-year 2025 revenues of $4.735 billion across its portfolio, which includes UFC, WWE, PBR and IMG. Business 2026 guidance projects revenues of $5.675 billion to $5.775 billiondriven primarily by fresh media rights deals for the UFC and WWE with Paramount and Disney.

Shapiro positioned Zuffa Boxing as an additional growth channel with the same revenue streams that TKO has built around its other properties – media rights, consumer licensing, ticket sales, site fees and global partnerships. Integration with UFC, WWE and PBR also gives TKO an advantage in negotiations with broadcast and streaming partners.

For a promotion that’s only been around for a month, the infrastructure is growing rapidly. The deal with Paramount+ has been struck, international territories are on the cards, the London superfight is booked for April and the 2026 calendar is full. Whether Zuffa Boxing can produce results on the scale described by Shapiro will depend on how quickly it can build a roster deep enough to accommodate more than a dozen fighters a year – but TKO has made clear that it intends to treat boxing with the same operational machinery it has built around mixed martial arts.