Former UFC fighter Al Iaquinta has weighed in on Dana White’s ambitious plan to restructure boxing into a unified league modeled after the UFC. White, the UFC president, announced in March 2025 a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and TKO Group Holdings to launch the new boxing league, with events expected to begin in late 2025.
White’s vision is to consolidate boxing’s multiple sanctioning bodies—such as the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO—into a single organization with one champion per division. During an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, he said that the sport lacks centralized promotion and that his plan could elevate undiscovered talent, much like the UFC did for mixed martial arts.
“There’s talent out there that nobody knows about. What I’d love to do is build this thing from the ground up, the way that we did the UFC … Get rid of the five different champions, five different sanctioning organizations—just one,” White said.
Al Iaquinta’s Skepticism
Iaquinta responded to White’s comments on X, expressing doubt that boxing could be monopolized the way the UFC took over MMA.
“Boxing can be improved but seems too established to be developed into a monopoly the way MMA was by the UFC,” Iaquinta wrote.
His skepticism highlights a major challenge in White’s plan. Unlike MMA in the early 2000s—where the UFC was able to buy out or outcompete smaller promotions—boxing has a deeply entrenched history, with multiple governing bodies, major promoters like Top Rank and Golden Boy, and lucrative fighter contracts.
Community Reactions and Criticism
Iaquinta’s viewpoint was echoed by other users on X, some of whom pointed out that boxers at the highest level earn significantly more than UFC fighters. Some critics in the discussion raised concerns about fighter pay, a longstanding issue in the UFC.
One user wrote, “Dana White is a slave driver. UFC was built on underpayment of fighters,” referencing ongoing criticism of White’s business model. Others suggested that young boxers might resist joining a new league if it meant lower earnings compared to stars like Canelo Alvarez or Tyson Fury.
Challenges Facing White’s Boxing League
Despite skepticism, White’s financial backing from Saudi Arabia provides him with significant resources to challenge boxing’s status quo. However, key obstacles remain, including resistance from existing promoters, legal barriers, and skepticism over fighter compensation.
Iaquinta’s response underscores the difficulty of transforming a century-old sport into a single-entity promotion. While White envisions a streamlined league that could elevate undiscovered talent, boxing’s longstanding structure makes such a shift highly complex.
