TKO's Mark Shapiro says UFC and Zuffa Boxing Riyadh events will be cancelled if danger escalates

TKO Group president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro has told staff that the company "will not hesitate" to cancel its upcoming events in the Middle East, including UFC and Zuffa Boxing cards in Riyadh, if there is "danger or further escalation" of the conflicts in the region. The comments came during an internal company town hall held over Zoom on Wednesday, October 28, and audio of the meeting was obtained and published by POST Wrestling on Friday.

What Shapiro said

According to the audio, Shapiro acknowledged the tension between TKO's financial targets and the safety of the people who work its shows.

"I don't want to talk out of both sides of my mouth here. We want to have the year we all envision we've all worked hard for," Shapiro said. "But if there is danger or further escalation of any of these conflicts that are going on, we will not hesitate to cancel those events, damned be our budget. So it's certainly a balancing act. But the people part of it does come first in that."

He also admitted that shareholders are watching closely. "We have a lot of investors and analysts out there across the Wall Street community that are nervous that we'll be able to pull off the year without any of our events being canceled," he said, adding that if events are cancelled "it will certainly have an impact on our year in a very negative way."

UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein repeated the pledge later on the call: "I know we've got a lot of big events coming up in the Middle East. We're never putting anybody in harm's way."

POST Wrestling noted that the executives did not explain what level of danger would trigger a cancellation, and that TKO and WWE did not answer follow-up questions, including whether staff and fighters can decline to travel without consequence.

The events at stake

TKO has three major combat-sports dates in Riyadh in the coming weeks:

• WWE Crown Jewel on Saturday, November 7
• Zuffa Boxing 13 on Saturday, November 14, headlined by Carlos Adames vs Gerome Warburton
• A UFC Fight Night on Saturday, December 5, where Israel Adesanya is set to return against Shara Magomedov

Hours after the town hall, Riyadh Season announced that Crown Jewel would move from the open-air Riyadh Season Stadium to an indoor venue in the city, with tickets refunded. No reason was given. According to POST Wrestling, the new site is The Venue, the same indoor arena that hosts the Zuffa Boxing card and tonight's Canelo Alvarez vs Christian Mbilli fight, which TKO is not involved in.

Why it matters

The remarks come after attacks in Riyadh by Iran-backed Houthi rebels this month, including a strike on the city's main airport that, according to reports, killed 13 people. The U.S. State Department keeps Saudi Arabia at a Level 3 "Reconsider travel" advisory, and POST Wrestling reported that non-emergency U.S. government staff were ordered to leave the country last week. A Formula 1 race, a major tennis event and an international business summit have already been called off.

So far, every TKO event has gone ahead. Shapiro told staff another town hall could be needed in early December depending on "some events" and "some results".

Other notes from the call

WWE president Nick Khan said Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua on December 11 has sold 71,000 of the 72,000 available seats at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, a figure that had not been made public before. Epstein also said he expects a U.S. Senate vote on the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act after next week's midterm elections. That bill would allow Zuffa Boxing to run as a UFC-style league.