Dana White revealed that he aims to enter the boxing business. White revealed this during Peter Berg’s Wild Card West speaker series in which he said he’s “getting into boxing, 100 percent.” White also claimed that he was in the process of attaining his promoter’s license per the LA Times.
As many who followed this rumor recall, White wore a “UFC Boxing” shirt during the promotion of McGregor-Mayweather this past summer. With McGregor helping produce a PPV event White boasts did 6.7M PPV buys, it would make sense that the company may start to break into the boxing business.
He stated that the boxing venture will be connected to the UFC, but did not identify any specifics. UFC fighters have flirted with the idea of crossing over into boxing as a way to supplement their income in between MMA bouts.
With a foray into boxing, White would subject the company to the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act which provides safeguards for boxers against managers and promoters. It also prevents a manager from acting as promoter, vice versa as well as other protections.
Payout Perspective:
This will be an interesting development to look at going into 2018. With the overwhelming success of Mayweather-McGregor, White hopes to emulate the big fights in boxing. The venture seemingly would expand the UFC promotion and allow for MMA fighters currently on the roster to do both boxing and MMA. But, with the business, how will it deal with the Ali Act. I would think that if the UFC were to develop a boxing promotion, it would be separate from that of the UFC so as not to impact issues related to the expansion of the Ali Act to combat sports.
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