Congress TKO's boxing for Ari Emanuel
Ari Emanuel & Egon Durban set the stage for a triple fight monopoly.
"To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill." - Sun Tzu
In a 30-4 US House committee vote on Wednesday, the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act (MAABRA) passed and is moving to the floor of the House of Representatives. Once passed, it will head towards the US Senate with Texas Senator Ted Cruz likely taking the public lead on passage. Then it will hit the Resolute Desk for US President Donald Trump’s signature.
TKO has officially altered American boxing through extraordinary regulatory capture before it even ran the first Zuffa Boxing event on Paramount.
More specifically, Ari Emanuel and Egon Durban — the government contracting political mercenaries who exercise banking-level power fueled by Sovereign Wealth Funds and Wall Street institutions — have set the stage to codify the Walmart blueprint on the entire global combat sports world.
The original carnage created by this Ali Revival Act established a bypass of the original Ali Act through a carve-out called a Unified Boxing Organization. Damage done, but the patient would (proverbially speaking) die a slower death. A two-tiered Regular Boxing and UBO Boxing world.
However, Wednesday’s markup session in the House blindsided everyone in fight sport by amending regular boxing regulations that will cripple the minor league boxing scene immediately.
The end result? TKO influencing and controlling the entire sport of American boxing from cradle-to-grave. Getting their hooks into USA Boxing. Creating a regular season for talent development via Zuffa Boxing. Promoting Riyadh Season as “the playoffs of boxing” with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia financing major fights.
The UFC playbook is coming to boxing. I reckon current managers like Rick Mirigian — who represents Vergil Ortiz — will not want to play the same game as Ali Abdelaziz or Jason House. Harrison Whitman has beaten them to the punch.
There’s a debate to be had about how Federal enforcement of the new Ali Revival Act will logistically work. No path is pleasant.
Will it come in the form of a nasty Private Right of Action, which will allow UFC to spend its unlimited war chest suing any potential competition out of boxing?
Will enforcement happen via the US Department of Justice suing individual state athletic commissions?
Will enforcement happen via the US Department of Justice making an example out of club promoters by criminally charging them for not following these new standards?
Perhaps some impending ICE raids of boxers fighting on non-TKO events?
According to multiple key sources on background, an emergency meeting with members of The Association of Boxing Commissions has been requested regarding the Ali Revival Act’s new medical regulations and the impact this bill will have on state athletic commissions.
The Ali Revival Act significantly threatens state athletic commissions. The extinction of several state commissions is now a real possibility.
Without revenue from non-TKO combat sports events, expect several athletic commission Executive Directors/Officers to lose their jobs. These are the kinds of political appointments that pay a very healthy salary. Take a look at what Andy Foster, Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission, has been paid over the last five years in Sacramento (information via The Sacramento Bee):
Larry Hazzard, who oversees the Athletic Control Board in the state of New Jersey, reportedly made $165,000 in 2024.
We are gliding towards a potential pathway of a Federal combat sports commission under the influence and guidance of TKO’s political operation. Worthy of a separate discussion, which readers of The MMA Draw can look forward to.
Thought I was joking about the marriage of the State and combat sports? Like Hotel California, you can check out any time, but you can never leave.
Professional wrestling, boxing, and MMA all in one state-sponsored portfolio.
As investor and fantasy football expert Scott Barrett would argue, stop fighting and instead start accepting this new reality.
No offense to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, but TKO represents the real New World Order. This NWO has replaced Hollywood Hogan with The King of Hollywood. The King of Hollywood and his ruthless Silicon Valley financier are calling all the shots for combat sports in Congress.
Luke Thomas was in attendance at the Ali Revival Act hearings in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday. Luke’s report of what he saw on the ground is worth your attention.
The TKO lobbyist Luke Thomas referred to in his exhaustive video on the Ali Revival Act proceedings was Dean Garfield, former Netflix fixer.
One month before UFC signed their massive 7 year, $7.7B media rights deal with Paramount, The MMA Draw published an article titled Gangster Government for UFC White House Media Rights.
A simple thesis was presented. Everyone is paying TKO for political protection on a global scale because Ari Emanuel & Egon Durban married the most powerful financiers and politicians into one giant multi-monopoly.
The powers-that-be currently existing in fight sport had no chance to mount an opposition against this behemoth of a multi-monopoly.
But there never was a true protest because nobody in any position of power understood the true nature of the enemy or the game they were playing.
The MMA Draw was right, and our readers knew the real story
As recently as one year ago, The MMA Draw sounded the alarm on world governments creating a global entertainment cartel via UFC & WWE.
You don’t build such a monster as TKO unless you have significant political, financial, and legal control.
Ari Emanuel’s master game plan with UFC was to morph the project into “a manosphere play” with direct political connections for public support and financing.
Never in Ari Emanuel’s wildest dreams could he have had the foresight to envision that two of his top clients, Vince McMahon as the first Billionaire of Pro-Wrestling and Donald Trump as the next President of the United States, would help The King of Hollywood dominate global fight sport and do so without any significant roadblocks.
Ari Emanuel parlayed decades worth of connections in entertainment, sport, finance, and politics to play a completely different game from Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta, the UFC’s previous owners. The Fertittas wanted to usurp boxing. Ari wanted to marry governments — through fight sport — to finance bigger ambitions.
Turn UFC into a political mercenary and government contractor. This strategy saved his ass when COVID hit the global economy. 70% of Endeavor’s revenue in 2020 reportedly was from the UFC.
It was Khaldoon Al Mubarak at Mubadala and the Emirates that stepped up with Fight Island. Of course they did. The UAE and Ari’s financiers at Silver Lake are intertwined in multiple big business projects.
Both US President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stepped up to provide political support to UFC as “a first mover” in returning to semi-regular sports life in America.
The TKO cartel wasn’t built overnight. The problem is getting the average global citizen to recognize the size and scope of this monster.
Key aspects of this depressing reality were encapsulated on ESPN during their recent broadcast of the College Football Playoff Championship Game between Indiana University and the University of Miami.
There was Egon Durban on the sidelines with Tom Brady in Miami. Everyone paid attention to Brady, not Durban. Not a whisper from any fan.
Then, ESPN cameras focused — briefly — on Miami football booster and Brazzers porn star Abella Danger. Social media exploded.
Need I say more?
The man who is financing a TKO triple monopoly in combat sports is also a minority owner of both the Las Vegas Raiders and (Manchester) City Football Group. Egon Durban is visibly influencing and controlling financing in the sports world while doing whatever the hell he wants to do without a single ounce of public protest.
Make no mistake about it. Egon Durban, Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, and the rest of TKO management feel completely entitled. The end justifies the means.
Which just happens to include dominant political influence over both Democrats and Republicans in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Anyone arguing that Democrats will break up TKO should be dismissed with a hearty laugh. Send those individuals to The MMA Draw so they can listen to our podcast with Nate Wilcox explaining the sad realities of American politics.
The fix is in. The only ones who can damage this TKO economic system are the bad actors within this system. Two recent US Federal lawsuits highlight this reality.
All rights reserved — but only for TKO?
Days before Christmas 2025, US Federal Judge Richard Boulware ordered Dana White to testify in his courtroom about evidence spoliation in relation to UFC antitrust litigation.
Additionally, Judge Boulware issued an order requesting UFC present their voluminous Privilege Log for review in camera for further analysis and determination.
On Tuesday, UFC filed a motion to stay this discovery with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Among other claims, UFC is arguing that Judge Boulware is violating its client’s First Amendment protections by chilling speech regarding the attorney-client privilege.
In TKO’s world, rules for thee but not for me is a fundamental premise.
A recent Class Action lawsuit filing in US Federal Court — in Los Angeles — against Endeavor and Silver Lake highlights exhaustive fraud allegations regarding the $27.50 take-private price and the supposed (non) valuation of TKO assets within the transaction.
This lawsuit is separate from Carl Icahn’s litigation in Delaware Chancery Court regarding a book valuation of Endeavor’s accounting.
The Altshares lawsuit, in an extensive 93-page filing, details breathtaking allegations of fraud, misrepresentation of asset valuations, specially modified Tax Agreements, special stock rollovers, and millions — if not billions of dollars — worth of specialized side agreements for Endeavor (now WME Group) principals Patrick Whitesell, Ari Emanuel, and Mark Shapiro.
Altshares may as well have called TKO bank robbers in their pleading based on what they are alleging.
It’s exactly the kind of lawsuit that, in a normal world, would gobsmack the financial, legal, and political press. Instead, crickets. Because the subjects of this civil litigation just happen to be influencing some of the world’s most powerful and wealthiest governments. Don’t hold your breath on CNBC reporting any of this.
We at The MMA Draw tried to warn the major players in boxing about the threat TKO represented to their business. No one in boxing listened. Now their sport is moving from the menu to the table, and TKO is going to feast on the remains.
Zach Arnold is a lead opinion writer for The MMA Draw on Substack. His archives can be read at FightOpinion.com.
Another great piece. Very interesting points.
On Zuffa Boxing, it’s very disappointing that it’s the morning of the fight and there is no tv/streaming deal in Ireland. Very interested in the main as Callum Walsh is a Corkman from Cobh (Interesting Fact; Cobh (pronounced “cove”) was formerly known as Queenstown which was the last port the Titanic stopped at before heading out into the Atlantic).
Funny tidbit about Zuffa Boxing. The official site (zuffaboxing.com) only has a landing page saying coming soon, whereas the store (zuffaboxingstore.com) is a fully functioning site with lots of merch.
Finally, the embedded Ari YouTube vid at the top of the article is very interesting. Particularly at 33:32 of the video where there is a very obvious edit and cutting. It’s just as Ari is talking about his tough time at school.
Enjoy the fights!
State athletic commissions losing critical revenue if the mid-level and smaller promoters get pushed out is a dimension I hadn't even considered. Of course, I doubt anyone in Congress saw this coming either, but they seem pretty keen to be convinced by TKO's lobbyists that they're doing the right thing here. A federal boxing body also sounds kind of nuts. So much for federalism.