The MMA world has been abuzz lately with crossover dreams. Ever since Conor McGregor’s big-money bout with Floyd Mayweather, fighters have been itching to lace up those boxing gloves. Dana White’s new entry into the Boxing world has created many dreams for the UFC fighters. And who could blame them? The allure of fat paychecks is hard to resist.
White, however, just poured cold water over this notion. At a recent press conference, he laid down the law. No more UFC fighters taking “boxing breaks” on his watch. He believed that boxing and UFC would be two separate ventures for him.
“God, I hope not. Yeah no. Completely separate,” said White when asked if UFC fighters would compete in boxing at the DWCS press conference.
Dana White’s stance is pretty clear: MMA and boxing should stay in their own lanes. He wants his MMA fighters focused solely on the Octagon. When he takes up his boxing venture, it will remain separate from the UFC.
Now, some might call this a double standard. After all, didn’t Dana green-light McGregor’s foray into boxing? But that was an exception, and since or before then, no other fighters have competed in boxing under the UFC contract.
Dana White Believes There Are ‘Millions Of Reasons’ For Getting Into The Boxing Market Now
There was a time when White swore he would never touch boxing with a ten-foot pole. Well, now it seems the UFC head honcho has had a change of heart. Back in 2017, the UFC CEO dipped his toes into the boxing waters with Zuffa Boxing. He even printed t-shirts for the venture. But those plans fizzled out quite soon.
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Fast forward to today, and Dana White has been singing a different tune. When asked about it in the recent Dana White Contender Series press conference, he claimed that now was the perfect time to jump into boxing.
“There’s a million reasons why now is the time. If you notice, as far as boxing, even as much money as Sheikh Turki is throwing into this thing, television deals aren’t really abundant right now. There are just a lot of things I think I can do that other people haven’t done yet.”
So, what’s changed? For starters, the boxing landscape has shifted. TV deals aren’t as abundant as they used to be. And Dana White isn’t just planning to copy the old boxing playbook. He has got some tricks up his sleeve as he hinted at unconventional moves that will give boxing it’s old glory back.
Also Read: Dana White Makes Shocking Reveal As Conor McGregor’s Return Remains In Limbo
