Move over Eddie Hearn, because another promoter is getting ready to invade the boxing scene - and that promoter is the UFC, which holds a near monopoly when it comes to Mixed Martial Arts.
In several recent interviews, UFC President Dana White explained that his company will explore the idea of promoting and staging boxing events in 2018.
Back in August, White was a big part of the promotion for the cross-sport boxing match between comebacking Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the UFC's biggest superstar, Conor McGregor.
According to White, boxers will be better suited to fight under the UFC as opposed to large boxing promoters like Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.
He believes that a lot of boxers will head to the UFC once they see how things are handled by his company.
White explained the numerous perks that are in store for boxers who go across the street to fight for the UFC.
“I just know how good we are at what we do, and I know we’re better than pretty much everybody else out there,” White said to Jim Rome's Podcast. “I think that the guys who are involved in boxing, the fighters, would enjoy being under this umbrella and fighting for us, and yeah, I do think would could do it better than everybody else does. So what the hell, why not give it a shot?”
“We’re the best. We’re the best at what we do. We think about the future. If you look at this facility that we’re in now (the UFC Performance Institute), a state-of-the-art facility with every piece of equipment you can think about as far as recovery, getting stronger. We have a restaurant here that they eat at everyday for free, costs nothing for the fighters to come here and do all this stuff. Plus, we have a physical therapy center where all the fighters can come in and get physical therapy for free.
“On top of, I think we do our events better than they do, our production is better than the production that’s out there. I think everything in this business that you could possibly do, we do better, and we have health insurance for our fighters.”
In a recent interview, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum took full aim at White's idea of entering the sport of boxing.
“My thoughts are that UFC is desperate,” Arum told Michael Woods of NY Fights. "Their numbers are way off, they have no marquee star. Look at their PPV numbers. They barely break 100,000 homes on their shows. They’re having trouble getting renewal on their contract with FOX. They have to do something. One of things they may try and fall back on and try and acquire a boxing presence. About a year ago, I was approached by someone repping UFC, they wanted to buy Top Rank.”
And of course, White fired back when advised of the statements.
“F*** him. F*** that guy,” White said. “This is the same guy who said the same sh*t 15 years ago about me and the Fertittas. He said, ‘They’re losing oodles and oodles of money.’ I don’t even know what the f*** ‘oodles and oodles’ means, but we’re losing oodles and oodles of money and this business was a joke, it was going to go under, nobody will ever be into a sport like this. And here we are today. I mean, this guy is such a jerkoff. Literally the biggest piece of sh*t in all of sports, Bob Arum, ladies and gentlemen.”