Dana White marked Zuffa Boxing’s third event by declaring that his new venture is “like beating up babies” when it comes to competing with established boxing promoters, doubling down on a plan to ignore traditional sanctioning bodies and operate on his own terms.
Zuffa Boxing
Zuffa Boxing 03 took place on February 15, 2026 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, headlined by heavyweight contender Efe Ajagba against former IBF champion Charles Martin on a Paramount+ broadcast that continued the promotion’s push into multiple international markets.
White noted that Zuffa Boxing is already distributed in “18 territories across the world” on television and Paramount in the United States, and said the number has climbed quickly since the promotion’s first two events. He told reporters he wants the boxing public to “judge us on our body of work” at the end of the year rather than after three shows.
Dana White: Beating up Babies
During the Zuffa Boxing 03 post‑fight press conference, White was asked what kind of resistance he had felt from traditional boxing establishments. “There hasn’t been any pushback,” he replied, before adding, “This is like beating up babies. I feel like I came in and I’m beating up babies. I expected more. I expected some pushback. I expected them to be more game. This is all way out of their league, like absolutely, positively out of their league. I’m actually a little shocked.”
He framed his rivals’ response as timid and suggested that established promoters do not know how to compete with an integrated model backed by TKO Group and the UFC’s event infrastructure.
White’s comments came after weeks of public back‑and‑forth with WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán and high‑profile promoters Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya, who have criticised both Zuffa’s custom championship belt and its decision to sidestep boxing’s four major sanctioning bodies.
Hearn recently called the Zuffa belt “cringe,” while the WBC issued a formal response warning that White’s plan to disregard organisations like the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF could isolate Zuffa’s fighters from recognised world titles. Sulaimán has also accused Zuffa Boxing of “bullying” its way into the sport, a charge White has rejected while insisting that the Ali Act will remain intact and that fighters will keep existing legal protections.
White insisted that he has not been attacking bodies such as the WBC or IBF directly, but rather choosing to bypass them. “Everybody knows that this thing’s been broken for a long time. I said what I was going to do,” he said.
“I’ve never said anything bad about the WBC or the IBF or any of them. I just said I’m not going to do business with them. I’m going to do my own thing.” He argued that promoters like Hearn have become “part of the problem” by staying in the same lane, and contrasted that with his claim that Zuffa Boxing intends to “change the entire sport” through consistent matchmaking, centralised titles and long‑term investment in fighters.
At the same time, White played down fears that Zuffa Boxing aims to take over boxing or strip power from established players, saying there is space for different models to coexist. He maintained that promoters such as Hearn and De La Hoya still have the resources to compete but lack “vision,” and repeated that his focus is on building events.
