Dana White wants every top free agent for Zuffa Boxing

The UFC CEO says Zuffa Boxing will only negotiate with elite fighters once their promotional contracts have expired.

Dana White seems to have very ambitious goals for Zuffa Boxing. He said that Zuffa Boxing wants to sign every elite boxer whose promotional contract is about to expire. However, he made it very clear that his company will wait until the fighters are legally available. This includes names like Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney.

“I want them all. When their contracts are up, and they’re legal to talk to us, we want to talk to them all”

he said. This reflects the long-term strategy he has been pursuing together with Turki Alalshikh since Zuffa Boxing entered the market. They don’t want to lure fighters away from their existing contracts. Instead, they're trying to wait patiently and then offer them a contract when their current one expires.

In addition, Dana White rejected all allegations speculating that he was poaching boxers from competing promoters.

“We’re not trying to steal anybody’s fighters. We only want to talk to people that are available and can legally talk to us”

he said after being accused of rejecting an alleged cease-and-desist letter related to Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn.

In the end, Dana White summarized his strategy in more detail: wait until the fighters are free agents, and then try to sign the biggest names in the sport. Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney are definitely candidates who fit this profile perfectly and could become really interesting in the future.

Personally, I think it’s great, at least at first, how he’s approaching the project and prioritizing fairness toward other promoters. Dana White is one of the most powerful figures in combat sports, if only because of the UFC. And that’s exactly where my concern lies. What happens if other boxing promoters are no longer considered interesting enough because they don’t necessarily have the same reach as Dana White? Then some of that diversity would be lost. I hope that doesn’t happen so easily, and that there continues to be healthy competition in the promoter market.