A Controversial Law Could “Revive Exploitation” in Boxing | Critics fear the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act will make it easier to exploit athletes and create a monopoly (Unpaywalled Read)

The Ali Act, the colloquial term for the two pieces of legislation—the Professional Boxing Safety Act and the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act—is a federal framework created to protect boxers and the integrity of boxing. The 1996 Professional Boxing Safety Act addressed the lack of a regulatory structure for the sport in the country, mandating safety measures for competitors like medical personnel at fights. The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000 focused on unfair and anticompetitive practices within the sport, like nixing coercive contracts and requiring transparency around pay, policies, and other relevant information. Most importantly, it prohibited conflict of interest between sanctioning organizations, promoters, and managers. Critics say these acts are still too vague, leaving some enforcement capabilities up to states.

The Ali Act provided professional boxers with such protections that the advocacy group Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association (MMAFA) pushed for its expansion in 2016 and 2017 to include mixed martial artists, who themselves have watched a rapidly evolving—and narrowing—industry, dominated by a single entity: the UFC. (In 2012, MMAFA founder Rob Maysey, with the encouragement of former fighter Carlos Newton, started the process of putting together an antitrust lawsuit against the organization; two years later, the first of five complaints that would later be consolidated to Le v. Zuffa was filed.)

In addition to the UFC, Emanuel’s Endeavor—rebranded in March 2025 as WME Group after going private—owns the WWE and Zuffa Boxing, a joint venture between WME Group subsidiary, TKO, and the Saudi Arabian Sela Sport. Zuffa Boxing’s leadership includes Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, and UFC president and CEO Dana White. About a month after Zuffa Boxing’s was announced, Reps. Brian Jack (R-Ga.) and Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) co-sponsored the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act in July 2025, which proposed amendments to the existing federal law. (The legislation is currently working its way through Congress, where a House and Senate version each exist.) Proponents say the legislation is a much-needed effort to modernize the sport and open boxers up to more financial opportunity.

Critics, however, say the act could open boxing up to the monopolistic and exploitative allegations the UFC faces. Backed by TKO, the Revival Act introduced a new section for unified boxing organizations. Described as an “alternative system,” a unified boxing organization can promote its own events and maintain its own title and ranking system, thereby eliminating the current boundary enforced between promoters and sanctioning organizations. In other words, it would not be unlike how the UFC operates today.

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