UFC President Dana White has seemingly put Zuffa Boxing on the backburner.
White had been teasing Zuffa Boxing since 2017 when Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor were on tour to promote their boxing match. White had long said that getting things off the ground would take some time. There was a point where the UFC boss appeared to lose faith in the venture but he found a spark again and pushed forward.
As we head into 2021, all hope may be lost for Zuffa Boxing.
TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter asked White about reports claiming he was looking to book Claressa Shields for a boxing event on UFC Fight Pass before that plan was derailed. White responded with the following (h/t Bad Left Hook).
Dana White on Zuffa Boxing: "I've been looking and kicking the tires on boxing for the last couple years and the reason you've never seen me do anything is because that's how screwed up and broken it is, that's what a mess it is. I'm not doing anything anytime soon." pic.twitter.com/A3T2fXAXzb
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) December 10, 2020
“Never did I say that I was doing anything, but I’ve been looking and kicking the tires of boxing for the last couple years. The reason you’ve never seen me do anything is because that’s how screwed up and broken it is. That’s what a mess it is. Yeah, I’m not doing anything any time soon.”
When asked if all the sanctioning bodies and various promoters have made things difficult for White to enter the boxing business, the UFC boss said this.
“Maybe, yeah. Yeah, maybe. It might be. It’s gonna require so much time, money, and the whole thing needs to be rebuilt and restructured. There’s always gonna be fights that’ll pop up that’ll make money, you know, but when you’re in a situation where, you know, this Mayweather fight does more buys than Fury vs Wilder or, you know, some of these legitimate big fights, it’s pretty scary.”