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Dana White has a vision for how he wants to fix boxing. On September 13th, White will promote his first Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural event with the Canelo vs Crawford fight card in Las Vegas.
While speaking with The Ring’s Max Kellerman, White said he wants to fix boxing and turn it into “an NBA or an NFL.”
“There’s a handful of people and fighters who people care about right now,” said White when speaking on the inaugural episode of Inside the Ring.
“There has to be a pipeline of young and upcoming guys. I believe that we can do that again.
“If you look at the UFC, it was for sale for $2m. Nobody wanted it. Nobody saw the vision. Nobody cared. We did.
“This is how you build an NFL or an NBA. This is how it’s done. I feel like I’m starting from scratch now.”
Dana White wants to be the CEO of boxing:
🗣️ “This is how you build an NFL or NBA. This is how it’s done. I feel like we’re starting from scratch now with boxing. I believe we can do it again… You’ll actually know some of these champions now.” pic.twitter.com/4E1WN38WUJ
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) September 10, 2025
During an interview with PBS, White says he plans to focus on young up-and-coming boxers, much like the UFC’s Contender series.
“Basically, in 2026, I’m going to start my show, and what I’m going to do is basically like Contender Series,” White told Vegas PBS. “The best will fight the best, undefeated guys will fight undefeated guys, and what you will do is you will care about the first fight of the night, and not just the main event. So I will build stars, put on great fights, and then these guys will graduate and fight with Sheik Turki.”
White has already faced pushback from rival boxing promoters, such as Eddie Hearn, who believe a Contender Series-type league doesn’t work with boxing.
🚨 “I DON’T THINK IT WORKS”
Eddie Hearn reacts to Dana White’s “contender series” reference: “It’s what I said the [TKO Boxing] “league” was. It’s lower level fighters and young prospects who they believe they can build into big pay-per-view stars. I don’t think it works. These… pic.twitter.com/5wZnxF89s2
— EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai (@EverythingBoxi2) September 11, 2025