UFC President Dana White loves nothing more than making a splash.
Few people deserve as much credit as White for the modern popularity of mixed martial arts and while his promotional style tends to be rather polarising, there’s no denying his success.
Fans’ curiosity was piqued over Christmas when White revealed that he was in discussions with the recently retired 50-0 boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Having carried out some of the promotional obligations for last August’s bizarre super-fight between Mayweather and Conor McGregor, White reportedly wanted to glean some insight from the richest fighter in boxing history.
White has made no secret of his desire to test the waters as a boxing promoter and has been pursuing the possibility of applying for a licence to do so.
The 48-year-old started out as an amateur boxer and has recently sent his son down the same path while White has remained an avid fan of the professional game. He was recently pictured watching Deontay Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title defence against Luis Ortiz from Octagon-side whilst UFC 222 was going down just feet away.
Dana White oglądający przy oktagonie UFC 222 walkę Wilder-Ortiz to fajny widok. Fan. 👀 (via @FurysFightPicks pic.twitter.com/SB6DT5CqHT
— przemek garczarczyk (@garnekmedia) March 5, 2018
White has always been the ambitious type and he’s making that very clear with his reported bid to convince undefeated British star Anthony Joshua to fight under the UFC banner.
Joshua will attempt to add the WBO heavyweight crown to his collection when he meets Joseph Parker in Cardiff next weekend and White will apparently be ringside for the monster clash.
The Daily Telegraph reports:
“The Ultimate Fighting Championship is making an audacious bid to sign a promotional multi-fight deal with Anthony Joshua which could earn the Londoner $500 million (£353 million) and make him the richest British boxer of all time.
“Joshua has become boxing’s biggest star and The Daily Telegraph understands Dana White, the UFC president, will attend his title fight with Joseph Parker in Cardiff on Saturday week and plans to meet with the 28-year-old and his team.
[…]
“The capture of Joshua would immediately make the UFC key players and it is thought the Briton could earn $50 million (£35 million) per fight if he switched to them, with the prospect of a multi-fight deal taking him to over $500 million in earnings.”
‘AJ’ is currently contracted to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable and has insisted that he intends to stay loyal to that organisation but when Joshua feels the need to crack America, perhaps White’s expertise in that lucrative market will prove a tantalising bargaining chip.
