This past weekend at Zuffa Boxing 4, Jai Opetaia defeated Brandon Glanton to be crowned the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champ. After yet another blockbuster event, Dana White went on a rant about all of those who are trying to stand in the way and downplay his very own boxing promotion.
The UFC head honcho stated that he is irritated with the IBF after the organization reversed its plan to sanction the Opetaia vs. Glanton fight and stripped Opetaia of his IBF cruiserweight title just days before the event.
During the sit-down, Dana White discussed how Zuffa Boxing will handle the sanctioning bodies moving forward, especially after the recent Jai Opetaia situation, while reiterating that he is “here to fix what was wrong with boxing for a long time.”
You guys know how I feel about this crossover sh*t. Every time there’s a big UFC card or a big Zuffa Boxing card, everybody wants to talk about UFC versus boxing, MMA versus boxing. That’s not what this is. Zuffa Boxing is its own thing. We’re here to fix what was wrong with boxing for a long time. One guy as a massive favorite, terrible undercards, fights that never get made because promoters don’t want to risk their guys.”
Boxing’s problem was always that the best didn’t fight the best often enough. We’re not doing any of that. We’re putting on competitive fights top to bottom, no tune‑ups, no bullsh*t. If you tune in to a Zuffa Boxing show, you’re going to see real fights, not 30–1 against a guy who took the fight last week… I see lawsuits coming.”
Dana White has big plans, saying that Zuffa Boxing will operate on its own terms and that very soon the promotion’s titular belt will be the only belt that matters.
So what we’re doing is all the guys who fight for us that will be the belt. There won’t be any other belts… This is all just getting started. We’re four fights in. In two to three years, we’ll see where we stand. The writing is on the fuc**ng wall. Everybody can read it clearly now. And what I thought would be two, three years from now will be months from now.”
Dana White, however, added that he’s not yet done trying to cooperate with boxing’s traditional sanctioning bodies and will do his best for the fighters who are chasing undisputed status:
We’ll see how it plays out. It’ll be on a case-by-case basis.”
Dana White trashes Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, and Eddie Hearn
Lastly, Dana White did not forget to take massive digs at rival promoters. The 56-year-old slammed Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, and Eddie Hearn during the same sitdown:
We’ve done four events this year. Bob Arum’s done one. De La Hoya’s done one. PBC’s done none. We’ve done four. I just told you I might do 44 fights this year. We’ll see how this all plays out… I think the moral of this story here today is these guys are so bad at what they do. I don’t know how they stick around. I don’t know how any of them are literally going to co-exist.”
They’re just really bad. You see it, you feel it. I’m just blown away by how really bad it is… Bob Arum’s been in the business for f**king 50 years; he put on one fight this year. He doesn’t have a TV deal, as far as I know. He doesn’t even have a TV deal… De La Hoya? Don’t even get me f**king started on that guy. PBC hasn’t put a fight on. I haven’t seen or heard anything from Al Haymon… Eddie Hearn is a manager now. My rival Eddie Hearn. Holy sh*t. Who else? Who? I’m four fights in. These guys are f**king terrible.”
Check out Dana White’s comments below:
