Dana White has been linked with a potential new boxing promotion for a while now, and the UFC president said he’s edging closer to announcing his plans to move into the world of the “sweet science.”
Chatting to BT Sport, White revealed that he had spent a lot of time looking at the boxing landscape to assess how, and when, to enter the industry, but said he thinks he’ll be ready to make an announcement in the coming weeks.
“I peeked under the hood a lot there for the last year, ran different things, looked at different things and I said, ‘I don’t know, man. I don’t know if this is fixable,'” he said.
“Funnily enough, since the pandemic, I’ve been looking at other options too.
“We’ll probably have something to announce here soon. When it’s time, I’ll let you know, I’m not ready yet. But [I’ll announce something] in the next couple of weeks.'”
In the meantime, White’s UFC business continues to move forward, with big events taking place almost every weekend since the promotion returned to action during the pandemic.
The UFC has established a workable set of protocols to operate shows from its state-of-the-art UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, with UFC shows and Contender Series events taking place throughout the summer.
The promotion has also entered into a working partnership with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Board, with the government ring-fencing Yas Island for UFC use, with the area renamed “UFC Fight Island.”
The promotion held four events there through the month of July, and are set to kick off a five-event run on Yas Island, starting this weekend with UFC 253 and ending with UFC 254 as Khabib Nurmagomedov puts his lightweight title on the line against interim champion Justin Gaethje.
The UFC’s ability to host regular shows during the pandemic has contrasted with boxing’s efforts so far, with UK promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren establishing behind-closed-doors shows in an attempt to get live fights back on fans’ screens.
When asked why boxing wasn’t able to replicate the same success during the pandemic that he has achieved with the UFC over the last six months, White responded, “The world of boxing hasn’t been able to do what I’ve been able to do [in MMA] over the last 20 years.
“If they can’t do things when the world is normal, you can’t expect them to do things when the world is crazy.”
