UFC's Dana White says he's finally ready to give boxing a try after nearly a decade of debating whether it was worth it for him.
“I have a plan,” White told reporters after “Dana White's Contender Series” aired. The UFC president said that every time he gets on the phone with his business partners to discuss boxing, he thinks, “Am I crazy?”
“Obviously I think now is the time, otherwise I would have done it (in 2017). I was on the fence, I had spoken at one time about Anthony Joshua and stuff like that. I'm glad I put the brakes on and waited. It's all about timing. Is now the time? We'll see,” Whyte added. translation:.
White first hinted at an interest in promoting boxing in 2017, when UFC star and then-champion Conor McGregor was preparing to face boxing legend Floyd Mayweather.
At the time, White was occasionally seen wearing a Zuffa Boxing T-shirt, suggesting that the UFC owner would run the proposed promotion.
“No, no, I'm not leaving the UFC. I'm going to start boxing. [WME/IMG head] Ants [Emanuel]”UFC is going to do boxing as well,” White said. ESPN“It’s still early days, we’re still working on it. [stuff] I'm not going to be with him, but I'm into boxing. It's coming up soon.”
Interestingly, Emanuel's WME eventually acquired UFC and WWE, both of which are part of the TKO Holdings Group. 2023.
“I'll go in with my guns blazing”
In August 2019, White Key hires White had hoped to launch Zuffa Boxing by October, saying “politics” in boxing has always been an obstacle to the sport's development and that his proposed promotion could fail.
Five years on, White again says he has plans for a declining sport that has survived in recent years on gimmicks and super fights.
“I'm going to implement that plan and we'll see how it works,” White said in a video of the press conference. MMA Junkie“People have been talking about the decline of boxing for 30 years and we still talk about boxing. I've always wondered what to do with boxing. I don't know if it's possible, but we're going to figure it out.”
“I'm going in guns blazing,” White added.
When asked where the central location of the boxing facility would be, White said, “We're going to build our offices here.” [UFC] Apex. … We’re going to build all of our infrastructure here.”
White noted that any fighters under contract with UFC, Power Slap or the proposed boxing organization would be able to use their facilities.
The reporter also asked if there was a chance that UFC fighters might take time off to promote boxing in the future, to which White replied, “Oh my God, no way.”
In 2019, UFC bosses' plans were to promote boxers in the same way as UFC, hoping to avoid many of the boxing crossovers that have happened since then.
“I'm sure you can imagine people I wouldn't work with,” White concluded, presumably referring to YouTuber-turned-boxing star Jake Paul. “I don't think you need to be a goddamn genius to figure that out.”
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