Dana White said in an interview that he will only recognize the Zuffa belt and the Ring belt in his new Zuffa Boxing league that he’s starting up. Dana stated that he won’t recognize the sanctioning bodies’ belts [IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO].
White Unveils Zuffa Boxing Blueprint
Fighters in his league, which he says is patterned after the UFC, will fight for just the Zuffa and Ring belts. White revealed that the fighters in his league will be mostly prospects. What’s unclear is how they’ll be able to capture Ring belts if Turki Alalshikh continues to rank the best fighters outside of White’s Zuffa Boxing league’s orbit.
The only way less-talented prospects would have a chance to capture Ring belts is if Turki chose to make those belts exclusive to the new Zuffa Boxing league.
Having only B and C-level fighters competing for the Ring belt would be a disaster for Turki’s prestigious belt.
Ring Belt Risk of Devaluation
If so, that would essentially devalue the Ring belt. Instead of it being seen as the best, it would be viewed as a minor league tile and marginalized. It doesn’t sound good to have the Ring belt held by a league filled with prospects and a few notable fighters.
The Ring can’t help but be devalued if only fighters in that league can win it. If this league fails like the World Football League and the USFL in competing with the NFL, the Ring belt could suffer.
Max Kellerman Backs White’s Vision
“I love the fact that you’re not recognizing the sanctioning bodies, just the Ring Magazine belt as the world championship,” said Max Kellerman to Ring Magazine about Zuffa Boxing promoter Dan White. “Is there going to be a Zuffa belt where the winner of the Zuffa belt has a springboard into Riyadh Season and a championship fight, a Ring Magazine fight?”
“There will be a Zuffa belt, and there will be a Ring belt. And, yes, I will not recognize any of the other sanctioning bodies,” said Dana White. “Yeah, based on the UFC model. I hear a lot of people talking about, ‘It’ll never work.’ Well, we’ll find out in the next couple of years.”
Can Zuffa Survive Without Stars?
The way the Zuffa Boxing league might work to bring in fans is likely what we saw with the recent Canelo Alvarez vs.Terence Crawford event on September 13. That was a big main event fight to attract viewers to Netflix, and a barebones undercard filled with mostly prospects.
Fans would be willing to tune in if there’s at least one good fight in the headliner spot. Getting them to become excited about prospects with marginal talent would be impossible without a monopoly in which other promoters outside of the league disappear. With no competition, this league might work.
The idea is to let the prospects, such as Callum Walsh, be seen by fans at this big event, then use that to build interest in his career for the Zuffa Boxing league. The problem is, Walsh and the undercard fighters didn’t impress at all. They resembled marginal fighters that lacked the talent ever to win world titles or even become contenders .
Jeepers Isaac has been covering boxing since 2020, bringing readers sharp ringside insights and timely analysis on the sport’s biggest moments
