Interview with Nick Pete, co-host of Fight Disciples Podcast | 2026
Combat sports are experiencing a period of unprecedented growth and transformation.
From a historic UFC event planned for the White House lawn to Saudi Arabia’s seismic investment reshaping professional boxing, the industry is changing faster than at any point in the sport’s history.
We sat down with Nick Pete, a veteran combat sports journalist, BBC boxing presenter, TNT Sports UFC analyst, and co-host of the award-winning Fight Disciples Podcast, to break down the biggest stories shaping MMA and boxing heading into the rest of 2026 and beyond.
Combat Sports Are Bigger Than Ever, But a Critical Junction Looms
Pete has covered boxing for over 25 years and MMA for the better part of two decades.
He’s seen the sport evolve from smoky leisure centers and labor clubs to selling out stadiums on a near-weekly basis. In his view, combat sports have never been in a stronger position culturally, but there’s a catch.
“Fight sport is in a magnificent place. You could call it a boom town, call it whatever you want. But it’s also at a critical junction now as well. Things are changing very quickly, pretty much on a day-to-day basis, and from where we are now at the start of 2026. By the time you look mid into 2027, 2028, I don’t think the sport of boxing is gonna look anything like it looks today.”
Pete credits two driving forces behind the current boom.
The first is the UFC’s marketing brilliance from embedded series and pre-fight documentaries to the organisational structure that mirrors American sports leagues like the NFL and NBA.
The second is the intervention of Saudi Arabian investment, which has helped ensure that the best fighters actually face each other, cutting through the political red tape that has plagued boxing for decades.
The White House UFC Event: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Spectacle
Without question, the most talked-about event on the 2026 combat sports calendar is the UFC show planned for the White House lawn, tied to the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Fighters are reportedly set to walk out of the Oval Office to enter the octagon, making this far more than a standard fight card.
“This is more than a sports event. This is a global event. Setting up a cage on the lawn for a fist fight is so unique and so individual that this will absolutely cross over from the sports pages to the news pages.”
Pete draws a comparison to the UFC’s event at the Sphere in Las Vegas, which he attended and described as a breathtaking, multi-sensory experience. But the White House event takes things to an entirely different level, one that no other sports league in America has been offered.
The event has already attracted massive interest from fighters looking to be part of something historic.
Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, who are both widely considered among the greatest fighters of all time, have publicly campaigned to be on the card, despite both being either retired or semi-active.
However, Pete notes that most current UFC champions are either injured or already booked, meaning the card will likely consist of high-profile exhibition-style matchups rather than title fights.
Key Insight: Not every fighter is keen on the event. Paddy Pimblett publicly stated he wasn’t interested, citing concerns about the invite-only nature of the event and the inability to bring his usual entourage of friends and family. Pete notes that the security logistics alone will be immense, with cage-side seating likely limited to dignitaries and VIPs.
The Jon Jones, Conor McGregor, and the Heavyweight Division Problem
The state of the UFC’s heavyweight division is a story in itself. With Tom Aspinall sidelined, the division is the thinnest in the promotion, and Pete has a clear explanation for why.
“Most individuals who are naturally gifted sports athletes that are six-four upwards and 250 pounds upwards, certainly in America.
There’s a lot more money and a lot less knock on the body if you go to sports like basketball or even American football.”
This talent drain means that while a Jon Jones comeback generates headlines, there are limited opponents who would genuinely excite fans.
Pete suggests Alex Pereira moving up from light heavyweight could be the only matchup that truly moves the needle.
For McGregor, the situation is even more stark.
Pete believes the current top 15 at lightweight would comfortably beat him, meaning any comeback fight would need to be against another veteran or retired fighter.
Pete also highlighted the surprising development of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano landing on Netflix rather than the White House card, describing it as a nostalgia-driven legends match that will likely do enormous numbers on the streaming platform.
Saudi Money Is Transforming Boxing, And the Old Guard Is Panicking
Perhaps the most seismic shift in combat sports right now is happening in boxing, where Saudi-backed Zuffa Boxing (40% TKO Group, the parent company of UFC and WWE and 60% Saudi-owned) is fundamentally reshaping the promotional landscape.
The recent signing of Conor Benn to Zuffa Boxing, despite his long-standing relationship with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, sent shockwaves through the sport.
Pete described it as the most “bizarre and unlikely signing” Zuffa could have made, given that Hearn had publicly defended Benn through two failed drug tests at high personal and professional cost.
“At the end of the day, every fighter has to look after themselves because every promoter looks after themselves. So wherever the biggest paycheck is, go for it. This is prize fighting. You are putting your life on the line every time you step in that ring or cage.”
The broader implications are significant. With Saudi money now consolidating behind Zuffa Boxing and Ring Magazine shows, traditional promoters and governing bodies are being forced to adapt or face irrelevance.
Pete points out that boxing currently has over 1,400 championship belts spread across four major governing bodies, a system that makes the sport nearly impossible for casual fans to follow.
Key Insight: Pete argues that boxing’s biggest barrier to mainstream growth is its fragmented structure. With four world champions in every weight division and governing bodies that don’t recognize each other’s titleholders, casual fans are effectively locked out. Saudi investment has been the first force powerful enough to override this political gridlock and ensure that the best actually fight the best.
Anthony Joshua, Jake Paul, and Why “Breaking America” Still Matters
One of the most revealing insights from Pete concerns the gap between how fighters are perceived domestically versus internationally.
Despite being a stadium-selling superstar in the UK, Anthony Joshua was largely unknown to American audiences before his fight with Jake Paul with his only previous US fight being his shock loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in New York.
Pete compares the dynamic to the music industry, where British acts consistently strive to break the American market because of its unmatched scale and global influence.
The UFC’s American-centric structure means its champions automatically achieve worldwide recognition, but boxing remains heavily regionalized.
He pointed to Naoya Inoue, recognized alongside Alexander Usyk as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, as a prime example of a fighter most casual fans have never heard of, simply because he fights primarily in Japan.
The Weight Cutting Crisis: Why DEXA Scans Could Be the Answer
Weight cutting remains one of the most dangerous aspects of combat sports.
Pete highlighted UFC 324, where three fighters missed weight on a single card, as the latest example of a systemic problem. While governing bodies have experimented with solutions including check weigh-ins, rehydration clauses from the IBF, and the UFC’s Performance Institute nutrition programs, Pete believes the real answer lies in technology.
“I’m a big fan of a thing called the DEXA scan. Your entire body is scanned.
Bone density, muscle density, fluid allowance, everything is reported on and broken down. Then they use the science to say, with your bone structure and muscle density, the lowest weight it would be safe for you to compete at is X.”
Pete’s proposal is straightforward: add a mandatory annual DEXA scan to the existing medical requirements that fighters already undergo (blood tests, brain scans, full physicals).
The results would set a scientifically determined minimum weight class for each fighter, updated annually as their body changes.
He notes that DEXA scanners are already available at the UFC’s Performance Institutes in the US, Mexico, Brazil, and China and are increasingly common at universities and sports science facilities worldwide.
Jake Paul’s Unlikely Legacy: Women’s Boxing Pioneer
While Jake Paul’s own fighting career divides opinion, Pete makes a compelling case that his impact on women’s boxing has been transformative, and arguably more significant than any other individual in the sport’s history.
“He has done more for women’s boxing on a global scale than anybody. He’s signed pretty much all of the top female fighters on the planet. He’s putting them on his platform, which ensures they’re getting absolutely colossal paydays that nobody else was paying female fighters before.”
Pete traces the broader arc from Dana White’s public statement that women would never fight in the UFC, to Ronda Rousey’s emergence as a superstar that forced him to reverse course, to the current landscape where women’s MMA has full parity in terms of rounds, pay, and opportunity.
Boxing, he argues, still has work to do, particularly around the debate over whether women should fight shorter rounds, which Pete sees as inherently contradictory if the argument is that shorter rounds are “more exciting.”
Boxing’s Governance Problem: 1,400 Belts and No Central Authority
Pete reserved some of his sharpest analysis for boxing’s structural dysfunction. Unlike the UFC, which operates as a single promotional entity controlling the sport at its highest level, boxing is fragmented across multiple governing bodies, family-run promotions, and rival sanctioning organizations.
The result is a sport with over 1,400 championship-level belts in circulation (including world, global, silver, diamond, and intercontinental titles) and a system where the WBC champion is never required to fight the IBF, WBA, or WBO champion because those governing bodies don’t recognize each other’s titleholders.
Pete argues that this fragmentation is the single biggest barrier to growing boxing’s casual audience and that the disruption brought by Zuffa Boxing, while uncomfortable for the established power brokers, may be exactly what the sport needs.
“The only way this sport grows is by appealing to casual fans. The only way you get to casual fans is to make the sport easier to follow. To have four world champions in every weight division in boxing is insane.”
What’s Next for Combat Sports?
As Pete sees it, the next two to three years will bring the most significant changes boxing has seen in generations, potentially ever.
The consolidation of Saudi investment behind Zuffa Boxing is forcing every promoter and governing body to reassess their position. Meanwhile, the UFC continues to push boundaries with spectacle-first events like the White House card and the Sphere.
For fans, the message is clear: combat sports in 2026 are bigger, richer, and more globally connected than at any point in history. But they’re also in the middle of a power struggle that will determine the structure of the sport for decades to come.
Nick Pete is a boxing presenter for BBC Sport, a UFC analyst for TNT Sports, and co-host of the Fight Disciples Podcast, the biggest independent combat sports podcast in the world.
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