Carlos Adames wants to unify against Aaron McKenna next year, handing Zuffa Boxing a huge two-belt opportunity right after signing the WBC middleweight champion on Tuesday. McKenna’s manager, Mike Borao, kicked things off with his comments to Dan Rafael.
“I’m happy Adames is with Zuffa. We’d love a unification with McKenna next year. My guy is ready,” Borao said.
Adames fired back on X: “I hope so. Save this post on X, because you’re going to need it.”
That gives Zuffa clear direction after locking down Adames to a fresh promotional deal. The outfit now controls three middleweight titlists: Adames holds the WBC strap, McKenna wears the IBF crown, while Denzel Bentley carries the WBO version. Signing three champions opens plenty of doors, but keeping those belts intact long enough to stage unifications creates real headaches.
Bentley sits in a tricky spot. He has a date with Shane Mosley Jr. on November 7, even with the WBO ordering a mandatory defense against Yoenli Hernandez. Bentley appealed to keep the Mosley bout as an approved voluntary defense. If that appeal crashes out, he could drop his belt before Zuffa gets him into a unification.
A Bentley fight stripped of the WBO title carries far less value for Adames or McKenna. Zuffa could still make the bout, yet the chance to unify three titles would vanish.
Adames must take care of his own mandatory business first. The WBC ordered him to face Meiirim Nursultanov, giving the camps an October 20 deadline to seal an agreement. Eyeing McKenna doesn’t make that requirement disappear.
An Adames clash with McKenna still makes total sense. Each boxer gets a crack at a second world title, while sharing a promoter cuts out major negotiating headaches.
Now comes the task of turning online talk into signed contracts. Zuffa gathered the champions under one banner. It just needs to deliver the fights that make those signings count.
Adames is treating this signing like he just landed on the mothership, but he is stepping into an insulated bubble. Locking up three belts under one roof looks flashy on a press release, but boxing is a business driven by stars, not sanctioning body trinkets. Adames has never been a ticket seller. He is a tough, capable champion, but casual fans are not buying Paramount+ subscriptions or lining up at arena box offices to watch him box.
Pairing him with Aaron McKenna does nothing to move that needle. McKenna holds the IBF belt, yet outside of die-hard circles and a modest Irish following, he is virtually unknown to mainstream sports fans. Staging an in-house unification between two fighters with zero crossover appeal gives Zuffa an internal round-robin that nobody outside the hardcore base is demanding.
Once they burn through that single in-house fight, where does Adames go? Bentley is already scheduled to fight Shane Mosley Jr. while trying to dodge Yoenli Hernandez, and Bentley himself is hardly a pay-per-view attraction. If Zuffa thinks stacking 160-pound belts will automatically build an audience, they will run into the exact ceiling every promoter hits when trying to sell an unpopular division.
Unless Zuffa shells out massive money to cross promotional lines for true headline attractions, Adames risks getting marooned in low-buzz, high-risk fights that do nothing for his bank account or his profile.