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Dana White speaks to the media at the Zuffa Boxing 01 press conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 21, 2026.
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Dana White Talks Zuffa Boxing Debut, Plans For Growth, Ali Act Question Marks & More

UFC President And CEO Dana White Fielded Questions From The Media Ahead Of Zuffa Boxing 01 In Las Vegas.
By Simon Head, on X: @simonheadsport • Jan. 22, 2026

A new era for the sport of boxing is about to get underway, and Dana White was on hand to field a variety of questions on the topic at the Zuffa Boxing 01 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas.

For White, it's the culmination of a lot of planning, and a chance to translate the lessons he's learned while building UFC into a boxing organization, and it's an opportunity he is clearly excited for.

"So you know, me, this building (Meta APEX), and the building next door (UFC headquarters) – none of this would exist without boxing, and I've talked about it for a long time. Here we are.

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"Everything in life is about timing. And right here, right now, it all feels perfect, the timing feels absolutely perfect, and now we got a lot of work to do.

"I talked a lot of smack about the things that I didn't like about boxing, but I also said, if you look at the UFC and not just the success of it, but the sustainability of it, I took everything that I loved about boxing and everything that I hated about boxing and how we built the UFC. So, if it works for the UFC, it should definitely work for boxing."

White then spoke about the the NFL's success as an example of how a well-run sporting organization can elevate a sport, and how boxing has operated without a similar structure over the years.

"Look at it this way. If you look at the NFL and what they've been able to do over the last 50, 60, years, boxing has been around two or three times longer than them. So if boxing was built like a business, imagine where it would be today."

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A lot of the external conversation around Zuffa Boxing has related to the Muhammad Ali Act, and the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act (HR 4264) that will head to the House of Representatives after passing committee with a majority of 30-4.

White said that the concerns over the additions to the act were misplaced, and instead offered something extra for fighters, in the form of additional options.

"Here's the thing, they were very concerned about the Muhammad Ali act and all these other things," he explained. "None of that is going to change for them. Nothing's going to change. We're not changing one word of that. It's going to be intact. Now fighters are going to have more options. Why is that a bad thing? Why are more options a bad thing? It's not."

White was also asked about the signing of cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia, and how signing fighters of that caliber, who openly want to unify championships from the established sanctioning bodies, meshes with Zuffa Boxing's plans.

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"All of this is sort of a work in progress," said White. "What we really want to do is... these guys all came from somewhere. They had plans. They had dreams from when they were kids, and first put on a pair of gloves. 

"We'll do everything in our power to make sure that these guys can do what they wanted to do. We'll work with Jai and probably many other guys on stuff like this... You know, I sort of came out a little vague – I don't like to let everybody know what we're doing until we do it. And, like I said, this is all a work in progress. And, yeah, you'll see."

He also hinted that Opetaia's signing likely won't be the only big-name signing, with his team scouring the market for the right fighters to sign.

"If you look at our track record with the UFC, it's the same in boxing," said White.

"I want to sign anybody that we think could potentially be the best in the world, or is the best in the world. And we want to put on the best fights that we can possibly do.

"We'll see how this all plays out over the next year. But I always just put my head down. We do what we do, and we just keep grinding ... We'll see where we end up and how this all plays out ... I'll let our work over the next year speak for itself."

The energy and optimism on the dais from the fighters set for action reflected the anticipation and excitement for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing show, and while White is keen to get things rolling, he said that the goal is for the organization to have made great strides in its first year.

"In one year, you'll see the difference," he stated.

"We have a whole new production team coming in. So when we did the Canelo-Crawford fight, the UFC team did that. We're building a whole new team, as far as production goes. Again, that will all be a work in progress.

"Over the next year, we'll start signing more talent. The growth from '26 to '27 will be massive. We're going to implement a lot of things that I always wanted to do, production-wise, with boxing. We had a production meeting today with a lot of great ideas.

"And if you think about what a well-oiled machine the UFC is, it took 25 years to get there. In one year, we will crush this thing in the next year."

White picked up the topic later in the session, as he continued: "I say this all the time. We're the bells and whistles, and I just want to make sure that all the bells and whistles are perfect – that's all I focus on. We built the card, great matchmaking. I mean, a couple of stats here, the whole card combined, the record is 227-9.

"So with our first card, we focus on the matchmaking, bringing in guys that are talented and that we think have a future in the sport. And then we here at Zuffa need to make sure all the bells and whistles are perfect. And they won't be (to begin with), and then we'll figure out what we did wrong, and we'll get better next time ... We're going to kick some ass this year."

White was asked about how he would be able to accommodate the wishes of fighters who want to fight several times in a year. It was a question that drew a wide grin from the UFC boss, as he said that would be music to his ears.

"There's nothing that I like to hear more than guys want to fight multiple times a year," said White.

"The more active, more active you are, the more money you make. More active you are, more people know who you are. More people are interested in seeing you fight, and the faster you climb up the ladder and possibly fight for a world title. So, I love it.

"As far as roster size, we have a number of fights that we're going to do this year, but if everybody is that ambitious and wants to fight, we'll do more fights. I love fights, so as many times as we can fight a year, I'm in!

"Who knows? Maybe by the end of this year, we're doing as many fights in boxing as we are in UFC, then it's a perfect weekend. We either go Friday or Sunday with boxing, and UFC is on Saturday."

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Finally, White gave his seal of approval on the lineup that will kick off this new era for Zuffa Boxing, and said that the fighters now have the platform to go out and show the world their skills.

"We matchmade this card the way that we did because we believe, obviously, with our first card, that from top to bottom, these are the kids that are going to put on an absolute display of what the sport of boxing looks like, how fun it can be, and that it's great for television," he said.

"So I don't need to tell these guys anything. This is what they do. They're going to have a huge spotlight on Friday night. And, like I always tell all the UFC fighters, we put the bells and whistles on, get out there and make everybody talk about you and know your name on Saturday morning."

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