After over 23 years at the head of the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion, Dana White hopes to replicate that success in boxing.
While in Dublin for the Callum Walsh and Przemyslaw Runowski super welterweight boxing match, the UFC CEO said that his next big venture will be in the squared circle.
“There will be some big announcement soon…Iif you know anything about me and you go back and look at anything I ever said, I never say anything that I don’t do, ever. 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.”
While Dana White didn’t go into detail, he did confirm that Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh would be involved. “I’m HBO…he’s the promoter, his matchmakers make the fights,” he told the audience after the Walsh and Prezmyslaw weigh-ins.
Dana White Wants to Use UFC Blueprint for Boxing Ambitions
Dana White also used his support of Walsh as a prototype for what’s to come. “I want to come into markets like this, find new talent and build them up from the ground up. Just like we did with the UFC,” he said. “We bought those three letters, an old wooden, and we had like 10 contracts…I would love to use that blueprint and build this thing from the ground up with guys like the guys that are sitting on the stage right now.”
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White, who was known in the boxing community of his native Boston, has teased entering his first combat sport of choice for years. In 2017, he allowed then-double champion Conor McGregor to box Floyd Mayweather Jr in a wildly successful pay-per-view. Plans for Zuffa Boxing to continue eventually fizzled out.
Beyond his duties with the UFC, White has furiously promoted Power Slap and successfully lobbied for sanctioning with the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Callum Wash improved his record to 12-0 with a second-round knockout of Przemyslaw Runowski. The event aired on UFC Fight Pass.
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