Mixed martial arts (MMA), slap fighting, and boxing. UFC CEO, Dana White, is spreading his wings.
Who remembers Zuffa Boxing? A great concept in theory that never got off the ground, White isn’t abandoning his potential involvement in boxing. Zuffa Boxing may be a thing of the past that never gets off the ground, but something else is in the works.
White attended the Callum Walsh vs. Przemysław Runowski boxing match pre-fight Q&A today (Thurs., Sept. 19, 2024). When asked about his hopes of doing something with boxing, White had a surprising new answer to the previous one that used to be related to the aforementioned concept.
“There will be some big announcements soon,” White said at the Walsh vs. Runowski Q&A. “Let me tell you if you know anything about me and you go back and look at anything that I ever said, I never say anything that I don’t do. Ever. I’ve never said that, and we’ve been kicking the whole boxing thing around for a long time. You’ve never heard me commit and say I’m in. I’m in.”
Aside from UFC, White has put plenty of his promotional eggs into the PowerSlap basket, as seen on UFC socials across the web and adverts mid-event. Whether you like it or not, White doesn’t care. He claims not to worry about [haters watching or not](Mass exodus! MMA fans dumping UFC social media channels over ‘stupid’ Power Slap promotion - MMAmania.com).
White has notoriously been supporting the undefeated 11-0 Walsh in recent years so the timing to tease such a move is theoretically a good one. As for UFC, it just wrapped up its big historic venture into the Las Vegas Sphere with Noche UFC at UFC 306 this past weekend (Sept. 14, 2024).
Slap Boxing Contender Series
I thought that having the Zuffa Boxing shirts made meant that he was in before. Guess not
NY eve rematch with the missus.
Sure,sure
Yet another attempted boxing promotion was a great concept how?
Boxing dolls?
McTTT
It will fail miserably.
Dana is the most overrated businessman of all time and got lucky…once. Most of the ufc success is the fertittas, not Dana.
He has never replicated his success and has failed in pretty much everything else.
No talented boxer would EVER sign with Dana knowing he would take %85 of the revenue. Dana will be regulated to signing scrubs and journeyman level fights or mma fighters turned boxers.
Boxing action figures.
The UFC’s business model is to market the brand, not the fighter. This way, they can pay them peanuts and make ridiculous money. I don’t see any fighter that has a name willing to take a massive paycut to get the ball rolling. The only way it would work is to spend a ton of money on big names, then start signing mid-level guys before they get big, then once they become synonymous with boxing, start to pay the fighters shit. It just seems like a lot of risk.
Teddy Atlas All For Dana White Entering Boxing
Teddy Atlas appeared as a guest on Submission Radio and he was asked about UFC CEO Dana White making his presence known in the world of boxing (h/t Bloody Elbow).
“I’d say come on in, come on in – we need you,” Atlas said.
“Turki Alalshikh has helped boxing tremendously by making fights that the promoters couldn’t make or didn’t want to make because they didn’t own both sides, they didn’t control both sides; they don’t want to go across the street to share.
“The fans suffered and didn’t get the fights that they wanted, the sport suffered, the sport was getting less and less relevant… This sport shouldn’t be irrelevant, but it was becoming it because the promotors with their networks [and] with their sugar daddies, they were just making fights to keep their guys undefeated.”
White has pushed the “Zuffa Boxing” brand since 2017. The branding first appeared in the buildup to the mega boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
As of late, White has built a relationship with Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia. Alalshikh has played a significant role in putting together marquee boxing cards. It’s possible that Alalshikh was the answer in getting White to commit to entering the world of boxing
For the past decade or so, it’d be hard to argue that mixed martial arts (MMA) wasn’t kicking boxing’s butt when it came to making the big fights that fans wanted to see. Every month, the best fought the best on UFC pay-per-views. In boxing, things had dwindled down to a few big fights a year.
But with Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh pouring massive amounts of money into boxing, we’re seeing the biggest names regularly fighting the biggest possible opponents. U.K. superstars like Anthony Joshua are being given massive pushes in front of 98,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. And even when he loses, we’re still getting assurances that fights like Joshua vs. Fury will still happen down the road. With Turki’s growing track record, fans are willing to get invested.
Boxing is having such a moment that UFC CEO Dana White has recently declared he’s ‘in’ on the sport and will announce plans past his current investment in Irish prospect Callum Walsh. In boxing legend Teddy Atlas’ opinion, it’s a good thing.