Callum Walsh is getting UFC 1 vibes ahead of his latest fight.
The Cork star headlines Zuffa Boxing’s first pro boxing event when he fights Carlos Ocampo the UFC’s Apex in Las Vegas.
The bill marks Dana White’s return to the sweet science and the start of his bid to have a big boxing impact.
With that in mind, the LA based light middleweight and the UFC bosses’ favourite boxer, believes his fight could be a historic one – and thus the world title hopeful is happy to be involved.
‘I think this will go down as a historic card. You’ve seen what Dana has done with the UFC. Everyone looks back at the first UFC fighters and how the first UFC was and I’m hoping that when I’m retired I will be able to look back and say I was the first ever main event on Zuffa Boxing. Just to be kicking it off is unbelievable. It’s a crazy thing even to be thinking about.
Walsh has always had a great relationship with the UFC and White. UFC Fight Pass have had him as a boxing headliner since his second fight, so the progression to Zuffa Boxing was a natural one.
“Dana has seen the mindset I had, the skills I had and I think the perfect one to represent the boxing side of the UFC,” Walsh added.
“I’ve always been around the UFC,” he added. “So it was always natural for me to fight with Zuffa.”
“Zuffa Boxing will be something that will change boxing for the better.
“To be the first is massive. I think it doesn’t change much but now I am just one of the fighters. I feel like Dana was involved in my career because it was fun for him, he was involved with sponsorship and getting involved in boxing but now he has his organisation. This is it.
“It’s like the UFC. I am just one of the fighters now. Obviously, until I win the belt and become one of the household names, but I feel like right now, I am one of the fighters. It is a good thing. I have to go in there and work hard like everyone else, make my name again.”
White and Zuffa, who have a Paramount+ link up, seem to be making some reformative plays, trying to bring things that worked for the UFC into the boxing world.
They have their own title, ala the UFC and they may look to go the ‘roster route’.
Winning a Zuffa title would appeal to the Cobh man, who is ranked in all four of the governing bodies’ top 15 but he is focusing on fighting more than the ‘politics’ of the sport.
“I don’t really know how it will work with the sanctioning bodies. But definitely I plan to be the Zuffa Boxing champion,” Walsh said.
“I think they’ll have some of the biggest fighters in the world here in 12 months.”
UFC 1 held at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, United States, on November 12, 1993. There was no headline act as it was an eight man Prizefighter style tournament won by Royce Gracie.