Ever since the March 5 announcement that Saudi Arabia and powerful adviser Turki Alalshikh will partner with Dana White and TKO Group to form an exclusive boxing league, debates within the industry have centered on what it will mean to the pre-existing power structures in the sport.
Will TKO be willing to work with other promoters? Will the old guard team up in an attempt to hold off this anticipated takeover attempt? And is the TKO league actually equipped “in short time” to “crush everything” as it pertains to its competitors like Alalshikh infamously promised upon the initial announcement?
While most of these podcast and online debates have centered upon the idea that the perceived promotional wars to come will essentially match TKO against the pre-existing “Big 5” of power companies (Top Rank, PBC, Matchroom Sport, Queensberry Promotions and Golden Boy), very little has been said about what role the upstart Most Valuable Promotions will play in all of this.
If recent rumors are any indication, MVP – which was founded in 2021 by YouTube sensation Jake Paul and his business partner, former UFC chief financial and strategy officer, Nakisa Bidarian – has been quietly raising capital at a rapid pace toward the idea of becoming not just another power promoter, but potentially the power promotion that could compete head-to-head with anyone. And it’s a rumor that Bidarian didn’t necessarily deny.
“We have self-funded this company for the past three-and-a-half years,” Bidarian told CBS Sports on Tuesday. “I look at Jake Paul as being the biggest American boxer and the time has come for us to capitalize the company and allow us to accelerate our growth plan. I’m not going to comment on how much capital but we feel like this is the right moment in time to grow the company and provide more opportunities to fighters, with a fighter-first mentality.
“When I see the current evolution of what boxing is becoming, it’s actually scary. When you look at a publication like ‘The Ring’ magazine [which was purchased by Alalshikh last November], it is no longer an independent outlet. It’s really being used as a marketing platform and as a voice for a specific promotional entity [and] we think there is room to actually create an authentic brand that fans can identify with and know that the fighters are the priority.”
Upon its launch, MVP was initially seen as nothing more than a promotional disruptor aimed at providing a platform to stage crossover (and often viral) pay-per-view events headlined by the 28-year-old Paul (11-1, 7 KOs) against a series of aging and retired MMA stars. Many of Paul’s initial undercards also featured the boxing debuts of well-known former NBA and NFL players. Despite this development, Bidarian disagrees that MVP’s focus moving forward will be direct, head-to-head competition against TKO and Alalshikh.
Bidarian urged that any free agent signings made by MVP will only come if there’s a perceived positive return on investment. “We think the right strategy is to focus on young prospects and contenders that have star and success potential and really spend our capital there,” Bidarian said.
