Dana White aims to usher in a new era in the sport with the creation of Zuffa Boxing.
Promoter White, who also runs mixed martial arts powerhouse UFC, has agreed a multi-year deal with Sky Sports to broadcast events including at least five fights a year in mainland Britain.
“We’re very excited. I think Sky Sports has kept boxing alive all these years,” said White. “That’s a big thing for us.
“This is more than just a TV deal for us. This is a huge deal, especially given what we want to do with the business.”
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Andy Scott takes a closer look at Zuffa and their ambitious plans for boxing on Sky Sports
His ambitions for British boxing are far-reaching. White said: “I always say if you haven’t seen a fight live in the UK you have to go and experience it, it’s unbelievable. I admire the UK and Sky as well for keeping boxing alive in whatever form it takes over the last 10, 15 years.”
“We’ve done a minimum of five[shows in the UK]but I believe we’ll be doing a lot more than that. This is moving faster than I expected.”
White wants to be a force in revitalizing the sport. “Many young people have never seen boxing live or even on TV. Our aim is to introduce many young people to the sport over the next few years,” he told Sky Sports.
He plans to introduce different models on the show and promises to be bold when it comes to matchmaking.
“There hasn’t been a middle class in boxing for a long time. When you think about a UFC fight, you do a main event, a co-main event, and you put together a card. Fans are just as excited for the middle fight as they are for the co-main and main event. This hasn’t happened in boxing in a long time,” White said.
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“We want to have a match that is a good fit stylistically, and we want the best match to be the best match,” he continued.
“Everyone doesn’t have to be undefeated to have a fan base. What happens in boxing is that if a fighter loses one fight, everyone loses interest in him, including the promoter, but that won’t happen with us after a few years.
“It was fun talking to so many fighters and seeing how excited they were to sign with us and seeing the changes in the sport.”
Zuffa is introducing his own title belt, but his vision is still taking shape. It remains a “work in progress”.
“We did Canelo vs. Crawford and broke all the stadium records,” White said. “We’ve got a fight this big and then we’re doing a fight at Apex. We can do whatever we can in between. So it’s all a work in progress and there’s no ‘this is all we’re doing.'”
“I said I didn’t want to work with the sanctioning bodies, but Jay Opetaia wanted to unify. All the fighters currently involved in boxing have dreams, goals and things they want to achieve in this sport.
“When they come to Zuffa Boxing, we want to help them achieve what they want to do with us. So not every case is going to be exactly the same and we will find a way to make it work.”
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White’s own commitment is serious and long-term. “Life is all about timing and right now everything is aligning for this to happen and I’ve built a really good team around me. I’m excited about this, I’m committed to this and I’m actually enjoying it,” he said.
“This is two years earlier than I expected it to be at the end of ’26, and with four games now, you never know. It’s going much faster than I expected. I’m not underestimating anyone. With the situation we’re sitting in right now, I have really high expectations for ’27.”
“If you look at the big picture of what we’re going to be doing in ’26 and ’27, it’s incredible.”
