Dana White Hyping Up Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois Has Fans Speculating Turki Alalshikh’s Influence

Dana White recently surprised fans by hyping up the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois fight on his Instagram story. It’s unusual for the UFC boss to promote anything outside of his own organization, let alone a boxing match. This unexpected endorsement has fans speculating that Turki Alalshikh, the prominent Saudi boxing promoter, may have influenced White to give the fight a little boost. 

With Alalshikh’s deep ties to both sports and his knack for making big events happen, it’s not too far-fetched to think he had a role in getting White to shine the spotlight on this heavyweight showdown.

Now, this is a big deal because White has famously called out boxing so many times for boxers taking on easy fights to rack up their stats. He’s often talked about how boxing doesn’t make any money and has blamed it on boxers being overpaid. 

As one can imagine, this was in response to questions about fighter fair pay in the UFC. So, getting this man to endorse a boxing match, this would require some convincing.

Needless to say fans had a field day with this making fun of White for ‘bending over backwards’ for the Saudi oil money. 

One fan said, “Never thought I’d see the day, Dana White really now forced to bend over for whatever just to keep those Saudi sponsors, they got him promoting his rivals.”

Another fan added, “Turki slid him an extra 5m to say this.”

“Turki got my boy Dana promoting boxing Ik that bag different”– added a fan 

Another fan said, “dana is part of the new boxing league that turki wanted to form”

Over the past year or so, Alalshikh has become the biggest name in the world of boxing. Except Canelo Alvarez, he’s got everyone convinced about making Saudi Arabia the home of boxing by making the best fights and paying exorbitantly for them. 

White, who has previously wanted to get into the boxing world has recently stated that he might consider working together with Alalshikh to create a boxing league. 

Turki and White in a league of their own

Now, the UFC president knows a thing or two about making big business moves, and he’s definitely got his eye on Alalshikh’s impact in the boxing world.

In a recent interview with Sports Business Journal, the UFC CEO praised Alalshikh, saying he’s open to teaming up with the man who’s been shaking up the sport. 

When asked about the possibility of working together and if Alalshikh could unite all boxing promotions under one banner, White was optimistic:

“It’s definitely a possibility. I think he’s the only one who could do it. The guy is making fights nobody else can make.”

Now, while that does sound interesting, for those with a bit of insight into corporate economics, it does sound like the making of a monopolistic organization for the sport of boxing. It pays now, but without proper laws and competitions to keep it in check, there’s a good chance, this could hurt the sport and the athletes in the long run.