In August, UFC president Dana White proclaimed that he'd be conducting a press conference by October to introduce Zuffa Boxing. The month came, and as we approach the end of the first quarter for 2020, there's no word on White officially entering the boxing space.
Earlier this week, White spoke with Yahoo Sports and stated that after taking a deeper dive into everything, boxing is in trouble, even though he didn't delve into what the issues are.
"I hate speaking negatively about the sport of boxing, other than the fact that it's a mess – we all know it's a mess – and that it needs to be fixed, if it can be fixed," White said. "I told you guys that I would have a press conference last October and announce all these things, but as I dove into this thing and started to look into the sport of boxing, the economics of boxing, that sport's a mess. It's a mess, and it's in big trouble. I don't know. I don't know if it can be fixed."
White dipped his toe into boxing when Conor McGregor lost by 10th-round TKO to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in August 2017. Mayweather has expressed interest in a rematch, while a McGregor-Manny Pacquiao fight was also teased before the Irishman stopped Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January.
Could we see one of those two bouts combined with a UFC event down the line? Not a chance, according to White.
"I believe that when you put on a UFC event or a boxing event, all the focus and attention should be on that one event," White said. "You start with the main event, and then it trickles down into the card. There are some great fights that are lined up like if you don't know, now you know. There's a couple of fights in there that people might not actually know about that you focus on. And the same thing for a boxing match. When you go to an event, any event, you have to be focused on what's happening on that card and excited about it.
"You can't mix and mash all those things together. It just doesn't work, in my opinion."