Dana White’s announcement of the UFC 324 and 325 fight cards didn’t include the number one contenders for both the featherweight and lightweight championships. This left most fans scratching their heads. But the WWE President, Nick Khan, was not only excited about the card but is also certain that the UFC CEO has hit the jackpot with the card. So, what does Khan see in the card that the fans can’t?

Nick Khan praises Dana White for putting together a match card where Justin Gaethje goes head-to-head against the ‘Baddy’ Paddy Pimblett for the interim title in the main event, along with the co-main event featuring Bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison and the returning Amanda Nunes. UFC’s historic $7.7 billion era begins on the 24th of January.

Nick Khan shares why Dana White’s UFC 324 card is ‘special’

During the latest episode of the Daniel Cormier show, Nick Khan had an interesting insight about both the main event and the co-main event.

“The UFC card that was announced at the Paramount+ premiere on January 24th. I love that card, I don’t know it like you know it. I know Nunes vs Kayla, I know Gaethje vs Paddy. These I perceive as matchups that are 50/50 matchups. It’s one of the things that has made the UFC special.” Khan said.    

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Well, the WWE president actually pointed out the quality of the UFC 324 card being top-notch, and honestly, it is. But it also has to be recognized that Dana White potentially put a halt to 155 lbs contender Arman Tsarukyan and 145 lbs top-ranked fighter Lerone Murphy’s dream to fight for the championship, something many fans who truly understand the sport didn’t appreciate. Still, Khan highlights that the top brass remains the best matchmaking team the UFC could ever have.

“The champ fights the number one contender. If the number one contender isn’t available, the number two contender comes in. Or whatever that might be. If you look at Dana and Fertitta, and subsequently, Dana with Ari, Lawrence, and Mark Shapiro, everybody has built. That’s the model of what the fight team should look like.” Khan added.

Now, it’s true that under the TKO umbrella, with Dana White and the top brass leading the way, the UFC has been climbing to new heights. Still, there’s been some scepticism about whether their existing UFC model, including the matchmaking that Nick Khan praises so much, would actually work in Zuffa boxing. Well, as that ongoing debate heats up, TKO’s stakeholders made some moves as they reached Congress with their strong backing of the Ali Revival Act. 

TKO pushes hard for the UBO model in the recent congressional hearing 

After turning the UFC into a multi-billion-dollar mega-empire, the head honcho took on the challenge of making boxing great again. He firmly believes his Contender Series model can outperform the current boxing system, which remains tied to four major sanctioning bodies: WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF. To disrupt boxing’s operating model, White, under the Zuffa/TKO banner, pushes hard for their UBO system, which would require amending the Muhammad Ali Act. And they’re pretty serious about making those changes.

In the recent Congress hearing, UFC COO Lawrence Epstein and California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster strongly advocated for updating the law, pointing out fighter benefits in health protections, anti-doping measures, and much more. And that’s not all. The WWE president, who also sits under TKO’s boxing promotion group, stressed that they would even remove the commissions’ 3 % cut from a fighter’s purse, giving boxers a bigger share of their own earnings. 

“We’re not looking at one word of it. We’re not looking to change one comma. But in addition to what exists will be this new option, where you don’t have to use these sanctioning bodies and pay 3% of your purse, and there’s a super champion in recess. All of this chaos and nonsense that we think in part ruined boxing, our effort is going to be to do away with that.” Nick Khan further added in Daniel Cormier’s YouTube interview. 

Recently, we witnessed a boxing drama where Terence Crawford was stripped of his undisputed title because he refused to pay the sanctioning body’s fee. So for ‘Bud’, this new model might actually feel far more appealing since he clearly has problems with the current system.

That said, as TKO looks to take over MMA, boxing, wrestling, and combat sports in general, would this actually benefit the sport more with such great minds pushing behind it? Let us know in the comments section below.