The UFC will get into promoting Boxing soon -- Call me crazy but...

[anonymous2.0]

David Haye vs Jimi Manuwa in January 2018

Jimi Manuwa - "We've talked a lot. Me, Dana, and [David Haye] have talked, we had a conference call in Las Vegas. It's looking like the fight is happening in January-ish, early next year... depending on how the Title shot [scenario plays out], it's either going to be the David Haye fight or the [UFC LHW] Title shot."

Jimi Manuwa by bodyshot KO, David Haye has a glass body

[USMCer]

Transplanted post:

If he does get into boxing, I am wondering how many fighters would actually sign under that umbrella. Lower tier fighters might jump at it. Higher class fighters will not want that pay cut.

I'm predicting the first 'big names' that they'll sign will be:
Mikey Garcia
Claressa Shields

The name's they'll try to coax out of retirement:
Floyd Mayweather
Andre Ward

The long-shot:
Anthony Joshua

Others they can get/go after:
Cecilia Brækhus... if only for a Holly Holm match
Michael Conlan... if only for the Conor McGregor connection

[Eff Pandas]

I'm predicting the first 'big names' that they'll sign will be:
Mikey Garcia
Claressa Shields

I'm rooting on Spence. Spence needs a promotion behind him & getting him fights. I bet they don't eff with any big name women, but who knows the whole boxing thing seemed like a crazy idea not that long ago.

The name's they'll try to coax out of retirement:
Floyd Mayweather
Andre Ward

175 seems like a losing division to get in with most of the interesting top names being with be HBO affiliated...unless HBO & UFC join forces in someway (idk any conflict of interest that might prevent that but maybe someone else does & I vaguely remember someone bringing up something like that previously with UFC & HBO)

The long-shot:
Anthony Joshua

I saw a twitter rumor a couple weeks back there is interest by some new entity in signing Joshua when his current Matchroom deal is up which is apparently soon-ish. Thats definitely the #1 guy who's near free or close to free agency that would make the UFC an instant player in boxing so they should definitely try to pick up a guy like that. The more people that gotta mention the UFC being involved in boxing cuz they got some big name or P4P type guy the better it is for the UFC's long term boxing moves.

Others they can get/go after:
Cecilia Brækhus... if only for a Holly Holm match
Michael Conlan... if only for the Conor McGregor connection

If they pick up a girl I think Ceciliia would be the choice, but I'd argue the Cyborg fight would make more sense cuz Cyborg wants to box & the UFC doesn't even have a 145lb roster for Cyborg to fight in the UFC. Holm has said she has no interest in boxing.

Conlan gots 2-4 more years with Arum I'm assuming. There is 100% no way he'll get picked up the UFC any time soon.

The smart thing for the UFC to do is to align with Al Haymon since Haymon has the best free agent fighters in boxing still. Spence, the Charlo's, Wilder, Broner & another dozen or three top 10, top 20 caliber guys.

I think the UFC will ease into boxing real slow like with 3-4 shows in 2018. They won't go full throttle into boxing just yet. So they won't even need to sign THAT many people right off or they could even just "rent out" some Haymon guys at the beginning to have some solid headliners fighting as they figure out boxing a lil better.

[USMCer]

... I bet they don't eff with any big name women, but who knows the whole boxing thing seemed like a crazy idea not that long ago.

If they pick up a girl I think Ceciliia would be the choice, but I'd argue the Cyborg fight would make more sense cuz Cyborg wants to box & the UFC doesn't even have a 145lb roster for Cyborg to fight in the UFC. Holm has said she has no interest in boxing...

Claressa Shields is a Star ready to breakout. Maybe Boxing just won't embrace the Women, but if it's a market that Zuffa Boxing would pursue... then Claressa Shields is the 'Trojan Horse' that could crack it open.

About Holly and Cecilia...
True, but what fighters "say" is negotiable. Holly has now lost her last two FW Title fights and lost her last two BW Title & Eliminator fights in MMA. As far as I know, her last comments on Boxing were BEFORE her recent loss, making her 1-4 in her last 5 fights in MMA.

For the few Boxing fans that are into Women's game, Holly vs Cecilia is that Dream Fight that never happened. I think that match up would INSTANTLY ignite/reignite Women's Boxing (relatively speaking). Personally, I'd like to see Cyborg vs Cecilia too, but there's no real heat to that fight, no built-up history like Holly vs Cecilia.


I'm sure there are doubters, but what the Women's game would offer is a bit of synergy to Zuffa Boxing. It'd be filling a niche, drawing a particular fan-base to this new platform, and enthusing an untapped market (optimistically speaking).

[USMCer]

[Regarding Andre Ward]... 175 seems like a losing division to get in with most of the interesting top names being with be HBO affiliated...unless HBO & UFC join forces in someway (idk any conflict of interest that might prevent that but maybe someone else does & I vaguely remember someone bringing up something like that previously with UFC & HBO)...

Okay, here's where I defer to more knowledgeable Boxing aficionados. I came up with Andre Ward simply because he's a big name that (I'm assuming) is not affiliated with any promotion anymore, since he's technically retired.

And as far as co-promoting with HBO...
Zuffa Boxing is supposedly meeting with "everyone" in Boxing this next month in Las Vegas, with the exception of Oscar and Arum (as per Dana White).

[Eff Pandas]

Claressa Shields is a Star ready to breakout. Maybe Boxing just won't embrace the Women, but if it's a market that Zuffa Boxing would pursue... then Claressa Shields is the 'Trojan Horse' that could crack it open.

Ain't no body to fight. She's in a division with 29 girls (last I looked) in the entire world lol. And I think something like 12 of them have won a fight. Granted the UFC could sign up the whole division, but idk if its a profitable idea. The UFC has been about competition. I'd be surprised if they latched onto fighters in divisions with lil competition.

[Eff Pandas]

Okay, here's where I defer to more knowledgeable Boxing aficionados. I came up with Andre Ward simply because he's a big name that (I'm assuming) is not affiliated with any promotion anymore, since he's technically retired.

I'm not actually positive that Ward is free. Since he retired I didn't really pay much attention to if his RN contact was over or not.

One thing doe is RN would likely have matching rights even if it was up. And they've shown that they are willing to spend money on their names so it might be hard to sign Ward even if he came back.

[USMCer]

Ain't no body to fight. She's in a division with 29 girls (last I looked) in the entire world lol. And I think something like 12 of them have won a fight. Granted the UFC could sign up the whole division, but idk if its a profitable idea. The UFC has been about competition. I'd be surprised if they latched onto fighters in divisions with lil competition.

Fair point. I don't doubt that she's essentially in a league of her own.

I just think she that rare star-quality, and that goes a long way... she just needs a proper platform. And people like to see dominance too. That could be the appeal for a little while at least. Gina Carano became an early star in Women's MMA when she was smashing girl 15-20 lbs smaller (up until she ran into Cyborg).


Maricela Cornejo, she's with Mayweather no?

[Eff Pandas]

Fair point. I don't doubt that she's essentially in a league of her own.

I just think she that rare star-quality, and that goes a long way... she just needs a proper platform. And people like to see dominance too. That could be the appeal for a little while at least. Gina Carano became an early star in Women's MMA when she was smashing girl 15-20 lbs smaller (up until she ran into Cyborg).

I think dominance & names in their fights goes against the UFC business model. Now if they change that in boxing, where dominance + names does seem to sell better (although I'd argue thats cuz this isn't a market filled with competition to begin with), I'm curious to see.

Til we see differently doe I'm betting on the UFC's boxing arm going for good fights & being fan friendly over hyping stars/names in lesser fights like boxing has been doing for too long. I've been thinking its time to change that whole paradigm.

Part of the value in the UFC brand is being seen as putting on good competitive fights. I'd argue they could hurt their UFC MMA brand by creating a UFC standard boxing promotion product thats putting on Kovalev vs that guy who's about to die type fights. That wouldn't be a good move. This is a risk out of the gate, if they do it badly they could hurt their proven product.

Maricela Cornejo, she's with Mayweather no?

I THINK she signed with GBP or someone notable recently.

Floyd does have the one girl to beat Shields in the amateurs.

There's fights for Shields, but not enough of them. Theres no depth for a girl Shields' size & I don't see that changing anytime soon. For an MMA guy I'd compare her to having Cyborg on your roster except she's not as much of a name yet & may not even get to that point cuz there is no Gina Carano or Holly Holm to fight or even a rival to hype a fight against like Ronda Rousey.

[USMCer]

Belated thread bump...