Paramount+ Becomes Exclusive Home of Zuffa Boxing In U.S., Canada, Latin America
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By Cassandra Cousineau, LVSportsBiz.com UFC Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Dana White’s latest boxing venture is moving forward under the same media banner that will soon cover Las Vegas-based UFC.
Zuffa Boxing, the new promotion created by TKO and Saudi entertainment company Sela, announced Monday it has struck an exclusive distribution deal with Paramount, which is the future home of UFC events.
Beginning in Jan. 2026, Paramount+ will stream a slate of 12 Zuffa Boxing fight cards, with the possibility of select events airing live on CBS.
That broadcast wrinkle is significant. The last time CBS carried live boxing was on Dec. 19, 2012, when Leo Santa Cruz headlined a one-off event. Before that, the network’s last regular boxing telecast came in 1997, featuring Bernard Hopkins against Glen Johnson. The Zuffa–Paramount deal means boxing could once again be available to mainstream broadcast audiences in the United States.
White, who has run the UFC since 2001 and helped turn it into a multibillion-dollar powerhouse, is at the center of this new project. “I’m excited to bring great boxing events to a global audience,” White said in a press release. “There are millions of boxing fans that will now be able to watch competitive fights with up-and-coming boxers as well as the biggest stars in the sport.”
The deal follows the August announcement that UFC broadcasts will leave ESPN and head to Paramount+ beginning in 2026. TKO Group Holdings, which owns both UFC and WWE, agreed to a seven-year pact worth an average of $1.1 billion annually ($7.7 billion total) for UFC rights. By comparison, ESPN had been paying about $500 million a year for its UFC package. That shift away from the traditional pay-per-view model underscores TKO’s intent to consolidate its combat sports content under Paramount’s streaming and broadcast platforms.
In a recent 60 Minutes interview on CBS, he said he has no plans to partner with traditional promoters. “I live in my own little bubble, I’m gonna do my thing,” White said. “I’m not worried about what any of those guys are doing… I think those guys don’t think big enough.”
Just weeks ago, Allegiant Stadium hosted the Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez megafight, an event heavily funded by Saudi chairman Turki Alalshikh, who is also a Zuffa Boxing partner. That bout was viewed as the unofficial soft launch of the promotion.
White has said Zuffa Boxing will serve as a proving ground, with young fighters matched in competitive bouts to build stars from the ground up, similar to what The Ultimate Fighter reality series did for MMA in the mid-2000s.
Financial details of the Zuffa Boxing deal have not been disclosed.
