By Ryan Burton
UFC President Dana White has made it clear in several interviews that his company fully intends to stage boxing events in 2018.
The leader in the mixed martial arts industry dipped their feet in the boxing realm for the first time this past August when they co-promoted the blockbuster pay-per-view between UFC superstar Conor McGregor and five division world champion Floyd Mayweather. The lead promoter of the event was Mayweather Promotions.
The Showtime pay-per-view fight was a huge commercial success and ended up with the 4 million pay-per-view buys - the second largest PPV buyrate ever, trailing only the Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao fight from 2015.
White is planning to hold meetings in the first quarter of 2018, with numerous shot-callers in the boxing industry - to see which of them want to partner up with Zuffa Boxing brand.
According to White, numerous promoters and fighters have already been calling him to get on board.
While many in the boxing industry are skeptical of the UFC's ability to succeed in boxing, Mayweather Promotions President Leonard Ellerbe believes that they will be very successful.
"Dana and (UFC owner) Ari (Emanuel) are very smart guys and they have a wonderful organization. They put on great events and they have a number of great athletes. If they want to try their hand in boxing we welcome them," Ellerbe stated.
With first hand knowledge from working with them, Ellerbe believes that they would help the sport of boxing grow.
Ellerbe doesn’t think they would make the foray into the boxing world unless they were confident that their business model would work in the sweet science.
"They wouldn't want to do it if they didn't think they could do it at the highest level. I am confident that if they came across the street and wanted to get into boxing they would excel in it and that is great for the sport. The more the merrier," Ellerbe told BoxingScene.com.
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