The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act offers the worst of both boxing and MMA

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 13: His Excellency Turki Al-Sheikh poses with UFC President Dana White during the Undisputed & Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Championship at Allegiant Stadium on September 13, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/TKO Worldwide LLC via Getty Images) Chris Unger via Getty Images The U. S.

House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act today, March 24 , and barring something unexpected, it will pass. From there it goes to the Senate, and if supporters are correct, it will not be long before it reaches President Donald Trump's desk. The bill's backers frame it as a much-needed modernization of boxing regulation , one that will give boxers more choices and better protections.

That framing deserves scrutiny. The bill creates a new category of entity called a Unified Boxing Organization, or UBO — a structure that allows a single company to sign fighters, promote their bouts, award championship titles and control rankings, all without relying on an independent sanctioning organization. In practice, this is the UFC model.

And the company that lobbied for this legislation, drafted it, and has already launched its boxing operation in anticipation of it, is TKO Group Holdings — the UFC's parent company, whose CEO has publicly cultivated a relationship with President Trump that most Washington observers would describe as unusually close. Pat English, a lead drafter of the original Ali Act, was more direct in his written testimony to the committee : The bill "was substantially drafted by lobbyists" for Zuffa and its various subdivisions, he wrote. When John McCain and his staff drafted the original Acts in 1999, English wrote, "there was no agenda but one.