Well, this is going to be interesting.
Dana White insists that we won’t have to wait much longer before we see the first Zuffa Boxing events.
Having seen the money that is to be made during his involvement in last year’s mammoth match-up between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, the UFC President has been making moves to shift into the world of boxing promotion.
The wheels are in motion to have Zuffa Boxing come to fruition, with White confident that he will soon be promoting bouts in the ring, as well as the Octagon.
“I had a meeting in LA yesterday. We are continuing to move forward, and we will absolutely, positively be in the boxing business,” White said during an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
It remains to be seen what form the promotion will take as White has previously claimed that he will not work with sanctioning bodies such as the WBA, WBC, IBF, IBO and WBO, nor will he associate himself with Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank or Showtime Boxing.
When asked for a timeframe for Zuffa Boxing’s first show, White said: “Soon! I just bought the building next door here. We’re building a $12 million facility. We’ll basically have our own arena.
“We’ll be able to put on fights right here next door and air them live anywhere in the world. I can do MMA fights, I can do boxing, I can do kickboxing, I can do jiu-jitsu, I can do all kinds of different fights and tournaments. We’re going to do a lot of things.”
Having previously been linked with an approach for Mikey Garcia, White refused to comment on Gennady Golovkin’s status as a network free agent but did confirm that he is interested in boxing’s top names.
“If you know how I run my business and what I like, yes I want all the best boxers in the world,” White said. “I want them all to fight each other and find out who the real champ is. That’s what we’re going to do.”
