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Jai Opetaia Is Here To Get The Job Done | Zuffa Boxing 04
Aussie Star Plans On Cutting Out The Noise And Delivering A Big Performance To Capture The Zuffa Boxing Cruiserweight Championship.
All eyes will be on Jai Opetaia on Sunday night as he looks to make history by becoming the first fighter to capture a Zuffa Boxing world championship.
Australia’s Opetaia will step into the ring to face fellow title challenger Brandon Glanton at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, where he plans to mark the busiest chapter in his career by winning another world championship belt.
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“It's been busy, man,” admitted Opetaia as he sat down for a pre-fight interview with UFC.com. “We usually get busy days in Australia, but (it’s the) same faces, same things, you know? But I'm over here (and) the events are a lot bigger. And Vegas is like the f***ing sports capital. So it's been pretty intense.”
That intensity fits Opetaia well. The Aussie’s laser-focus in the ring has taken him to a perfect 29-0 record that includes 23 knockouts. It’s a record that has taken him to the top of the cruiserweight division, and now he’s all set to embark on a new chapter under the Zuffa Boxing banner.
As the highest-ranked signing, Opetaia’s arrival has attracted plenty of attention, but he revealed that, while there’s now plenty of attention on him, he’s been assessing his new surroundings, too.
“It's been awesome,” Opetaia explained. “I've learned a lot since being here about Zuffa and the way it runs, and it's made me enjoy it a bit more, because once you sign with it, you're not sure what's going to happen. It all sounds good on paper. And you know that people say these words with their mouths, but the actions are a bit different sometimes, you know, and you got to be careful with that in our sport – people promise you the world and f***ing deliver nothing… So far, it’s been very professional, very good you (Zuffa Boxing) have a solid team. Everyone's here, they're enjoying it, everyone's pretty chill. So it's been a good experience, and they've been very welcoming.
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To be honest, we've just been here training. We've done a few things, and I've had a few conversations with Dana, and stuff like that. But, like I said, words are words… I’m going off what I see, and the way I see the business run, and the way he's looked after his fighters and stuff like that. So that's where I sort of have gained more respect, you know, because other than that, you just see what's on social media. And I know for f***ing sure, do not believe s*** on social media.
“So, we’re just here to work, keep our head down and train hard, and make sure we win fights, because otherwise we're just f***ing building up hype, and we know we got to deliver, as well.”
Opetaia strengthened his grip on the cruiserweight division in 2025 with a hat-trick of knockout victories over a trio of undefeated opponents. New Zealand’s David Nyika was dispatched in four rounds, while Italy’s Claudio Squeo only lasted one round longer. He then overcame an early scare to stop Germany’s Huseyin Cinkara in the eighth.
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Since that fight, Opetaia has been working tirelessly in the gym – not just for the Glanton fight, but to ensure that, regardless of who he shares the ring with, he steps through the ropes a more highly-evolved fighter than the one we saw last time out.
“We always learn, you know” he said.“We're always trying to get better than our last performance – minimal mistakes, less and less mistakes. We want to get tighter (and) tweak little things. We're obviously not going to turn into a whole different fighter. We could throw a few different punches every now and then and find out what works. But it's about minimal mistakes. Whoever makes the most mistakes in this game is the person who loses the fight. So, stay switched on the whole fight, man.”
Now Opetaia will face Glanton, a 21-3 contender who rebounded from his decision defeat to Chris Billam-Smith with a sixth-round stoppage of Marcus Browne in Lagos, Nigeria. The American has never been dropped and never been stopped, but Opetaia plans on delivering an attention-grabbing performance to earn the respect of the U.S. audience.
“I want to put on a good clinic,” he said.“He's obviously a very, very tough opponent. So it's perfect, you know what I mean? It's perfect to come out here and earn my respect. We're not looking for walkovers – which he definitely isn’t – so we come here, we go to war, and we leave with the respect.”
Opetaia wants his respect as a world champion, but he admitted he has little interest in the other media trappings of being an elite sportsman. All the external noise and attention can take a hike. Instead, he views being a professional boxer as his vocation, and his job on Sunday night is to make sure he gets in the ring and produce winning performances.
“Honestly, man, I'm just here to fight,” he said. “Stay away from my personal life. Don't f***ing dig deep – just stay away, you know what I mean? I'm an athlete, I'm here to fight, get paid, and f*** off home. All the other stuff, I'm not too fond of it, you know? I'm here for a job, and I’ve got to get that job done.”
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