Corrected: Turki steps on UFC 320 with Canelo Crawford schedule change

TKO set to compete against itself on September 13, also bye bye Netflix?

Note: This version is corrected to explain that no tickets had actually gone on sale for Canelo vs Crawford. Apologies for the error. I also added a little bit from Sports Business Journal and a tidbit from a stock analyst.

What the heck?!?

Clusterf*ck incoming!

The biggest boxing card of the year — Canelo Alvarez vs Terence “Bud” Crawford for Alvarez’ undisputed super middleweight title — has reportedly been rescheduled only nine days after it was officially announced for September 12 at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.

Officially announced as in tickets have been sold and everything.

The punchline is this “reported change” comes via Ring Magazine, official mouthpiece of Turki Alalshikh, the front man for Saudi money in boxing.

Oh yea, it’s no longer going to be on Netflix and will now be a Riyadh Season pay-per-view. Which is probably wise since there is a reported $200 million fight purse just for the main event.

This is the first boxing card being co-promoted by TKO’s Dana White and Turki Alalshikh.

The move from Netflix (which had never been officially confirmed) to pay-per-view is a big deal because Netflix beat Hollywood in the streaming wars, and as the Adams Boxing Show tweeted, “would put (TKO Boxing) in a class of their own.”

Dana had already generated controversy by bitching about how much he hates putting on fights in stadiums, saying “I hate it. I hate it. So, because I hate it so much, you know I'm gonna have to try to figure out how to make it an incredible experience inside Allegiant.”

At least now there’s a fighting chance the thing won’t be held in a stadium because per The Ring, “the site will be chosen from five venues overall in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York.”

Mike Coppinger broke the news on X:

Turki Alalshikh tells @ringmagazine he has decided the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford Riyadh Season super fight will take place Saturday, Sept. 13 rather than the day before. He says the fight could land in New York, L.A. or Las Vegas, whichever of five potential sites presents the best deal. And he’s decided the Ring Magazine super middleweight championship fight will be a Riyadh Season PPV event.

Some were quick to point out they had already bought tickets — hope they didn’t book unrefundable plane tickets and hotels too! And Google AI is telling me VIP tickets are on sale for up to $60,000 each. That’s gonna be fun to refund.

Luckily for Turki and Dana, it’s front-running ticket scalpers who will be on the hook for the tickets sold.

Something to watch out for as this isn’t the only fight where speculators are selling tickets they don’t own. This tweet explains the scam.

Back to our heroes. Rest assured, HE Turki’s got it all under control:

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Or maybe this is all just a big swerve. That’s what Lance Pugmire is reporting at Boxing Scene, citing an unnamed “industry insider”:

A report from Turki Alalshikh’s Ring Magazine stating that the Saudi boxing financier is moving his Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight from September 12 in Las Vegas to September 13 (a Saturday) at one of five possible US locations is being painted as a second misdirection campaign, an industry insider told BoxingScene on Tuesday.

Following a Ring report in February stating that Alvarez was interested in fighting Jake Paul, only for Alvarez to turn to then-IBF super middleweight titleholder William Scull for a Cinco de Mayo weekend bout in Saudi Arabia that was widely panned for its inactivity, Tuesday’s report is said to be another turn toward gamesmanship.

The boxing official who spoke to BoxingScene said Alvarez-Crawford streamer Netflix is set to report in the near future that the fight is staying right where it was originally announced – Friday, September 12, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

But wait, there’s more.

The “this is just a swerve by Turki to fuck with the media” (including the media he owns) crowd was clinging to a Sports Business Journal report that led them to hold out hope that Netflix (perhaps joined on stage by Dana White) would announce that they had signed the fight at today’s Upfronts:

Some boxing industry executives have called Netflix the favorite to air a mega fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford later this year, but comments Tuesday from Turki Al-Sheikh raised questions about whether the deal could land elsewhere. Al-Sheikh, the Saudi Arabian official who has been arranging some of the biggest bouts in boxing the last two years with the kingdom’s backing, had said that Alvarez would likely fight Crawford later this year after the Mexican superstar defeated Cuban boxer William Scull in Riyadh a week and a half ago. At the time, it was reported that the fight with Alvarez and Crawford would take place at Allegiant Stadium on Sept. 12, and Al-Sheikh said that a broadcaster would soon be announced.

Dana White is to be the lead promoter after Al-Sheikh struck a deal with UFC owner TKO Group Holdings this year to start a new boxing property. It’s not unusual for events in boxing to get partially announced before a deal is fully papered and made official, and dates or entire events can change or fall through. Al-Sheikh, who owns Ring Magazine on top of being the chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, told Ring on Tuesday that the fight would now take place a day later, on Sept. 13, without explanation. He said the event “could land in five potential locations across New York City, Los Angeles or Las Vegas,” suggesting that details were still being ironed out and that Allegiant Stadium was not assured.

But Ring also reported that the event will be a “Riyadh Season PPV.” Multiple senior boxing execs in recent weeks have told SBJ that they view Netflix as the favorite to land the deal to air the fight, which is attractive because it features two of boxing’s biggest stars. But TKO and Netflix declined comment to SBJ when asked about that last week, while the reporting from Ring raised questions about whether Netflix will end up landing the fight in the end. That’s because when Netflix aired the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight last year, it put the bout on its regular tier for all subscribers instead of behind a PPV paywall, suggesting it may not be interested in the PPV model.

But so far, reporting from the event doesn’t mention Canelo vs Crawford.

What’s it gonna be, Dana? Canelo vs Crawford or UFC Noche?

September 13 is the date of UFC Noche 3, aka UFC 320, which is booked to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico’s Arena Guadalajara, a brand new venue in the city that holds up to 20,000 people.

As of May 9th, Dana White was telling ESPNDeportes’ Carlos Contreras Legaspi:

(Canelo vs Crawford) is one of the biggest fights ever. Obviously, I’m honored to be promoting (it). But yes, when they say we’re promoting it. I’m doing the promotion. We’re doing the production, the event ops, the PR, everything to do with the fight just like a UFC fight, while at the same time promoting UFC Noche. It’ll all be the same weekend. It’s a bad ass weekend of fights.

But now Turki’s announcement has Uncrowned’s Darshan Desai wondering:

“TKO's boxing efforts — spearheaded by Alalshikh, UFC CEO Dana White and WWE president Nick Khan — were originally announced as the promoter for Alvarez vs. Crawford, but now, with the event directly competing with a UFC pay-per-view card and being labeled as a Riyadh Season show,

David Shaw, UFC’s Executive Vice President, Head of International and Content, was very excited about this event when he announced it following the very successful UFC on ESPN 64 in Mexico City on March 29:

"It's important for our strategy in Mexico and Latin America for us to come more than once," Shaw told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. "It's also the one-year anniversary of our Performance Institute opening, which is an accolade and an accomplishment that our entire team has been really proud of."We've planted our flag. We're here. If anyone was at the opening 12 months ago, and then has returned at any point in the last 12 months, there's been a lot of progress at the PI. ... We're thrilled. Two events in Mexico this year, next installment of Noche, as we've talked about, and further success of the UFC Performance Institute here.""Bringing Noche to Mexico for the first time is something that was really important to Dana (White), important to (Craig) Borsari and a number of the other members of our team. So I think to come back and celebrate Mexican culture again on the weekend of Independence Day is really important for us."

It's so important to Dana that he’ll be busy promoting a different sport in a different city.

Or will he?

The Arena Guadalajara looks like it’ll be a great venue, except for one thing: it’s not built yet, and it’s well behind schedule. Just ask Katy Perry:

Rodrigo Del Campo González of Claro Sports has been trying to raise this flag for a while, tweeting on April 29th: “I asked UFC’s David Shaw about the delays in Arena Guadalajara and which assurances they had been given by the promoter. He seemed a little upset at the question but the arena should’ve opened 8 weeks ago. Today they’re canceling 4 more concerts over delays.”

He’s also pointing out that “Arena Ciudad de México has Sept 12 and 13 booked so they can’t be an option. T-Mobile (in Las Vegas) as of (May 4th) has the date open.”

Hoo boy.

Turki Alalshikh is weaving a bigger tangle than a black widow hopped up on drugs.

He’s fresh off the May 3rd & 4th boxing debacle in Times Square and Riyadh, and you have to wonder how much rope this guy has.

Most people in the combat sports world seem to think that Turki has an infinite pot of money to squander on poorly promoted cards, but let me remind you that he’s merely a manager of a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund.

But as Reuters reported in April:

Although producers like Saudi have a very low cost of production, they need higher oil prices to pay for government spending. When oil prices fall, many large oil-producing countries come under pressure to cut their budgets.

The Saudis appear to be briefing allies and experts that they are ready to do just that.

Saudi officials in recent weeks have told allies and market participants the kingdom can live with the fall in prices by raising borrowing and cutting costs, the five sources said.

"The Saudis are ready for lower prices and may need to pull back on some major projects," one of the sources said. All sources declined to be named due to sensitivity of the issue.

Saudi Arabia needs oil prices above $90 to balance its budget, higher than other large OPEC producers such as the United Arab Emirates, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

For reference, here’s where oil prices were on Tuesday:

Turki and TKO have a lot of resources. Still, this shit is complicated and only time will tell if their joint venture is going to monopolize boxing or be an international disaster.

FWIW, stock market analyst Mike Hickey is rating TKO stock a “Hold” rather than a buy in part because “the launch of a new boxing venture by UFC’s President, suggests potential strategic distractions.”

Nate Wilcox is Editor-in-Chief of The MMA Draw. He founded BloodyElbow.com in 2007 and sold it in 2024.