Dana White is no longer framing Zuffa Boxing as fully walled off from boxing’s traditional title system.
After Zuffa Boxing 09, White was asked whether fighters under the TKO-backed boxing banner would be able to pursue the sport’s major outside belts. His answer left room for WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO opportunities if those paths match a fighter’s plans.
The shift matters because White has repeatedly criticized boxing’s sanctioning-body structure while pushing Zuffa Boxing as a cleaner alternative. The debate has already followed the promotion through title disputes like Jai Opetaia’s IBF lawsuit and criticism from figures such as Oscar De La Hoya.
Dana White Leaves The Four-Belt Door Open
The video post summed up White’s answer by saying Zuffa Boxing fighters would be able to fight for the major four titles on a “case by case basis” depending on what “fighters want and what their goals are.”
White’s fuller answer kept the same case-by-case theme.
“All of this is a work in progress. My goal, and if you look at what Turki has done over the last several years of boxing, is to put on the biggest and the best fights that we can. Whatever it takes to achieve that, we’ll try to do. On a case by case basis, trying to figure out what the fighters want and what their goals are, we will try to figure out whatever we can do to make those type of fights happen.”
Jake Paul Calls Out The Shift
Jake Paul, one of White’s loudest boxing critics, reacted by pointing back to Zuffa Boxing’s earlier stance toward sanctioning bodies.
“They went from shitting on all of the boxing sanctioning bodies and how they need to get rid of them for the good of boxing to now this.
Truth is we need to further align promoters and the sanctioning bodies to create the biggest opportunities for boxers. That should be the goal.
More transparency, more collaboration and more big fights.”
Zuffa Boxing’s next event is scheduled for Aug. 8 in Dublin, with Aaron McKenna and Etinosa Oliha set for a middleweight title fight. White’s answer keeps Zuffa’s own championship model alive while giving its boxers a path toward the established belts if that is what a specific matchup needs.
The timing also comes after Zuffa Boxing 09 produced several visible results, including Edgar Berlanga’s comeback stoppage, leaving the promotion’s title model under a brighter spotlight.
