Immediately following Jai Opetaia’s win yesterday, Zuffa promoter Dana White took to the post-fight press conference to talk about his event and sounded off on all of those who would try to stand in the way of his intended success, including the IBF and Eddie Hearn. Here are some excerpts of what he had to say.
White on Opetaia’s performance
“Absolute clinic, looked incredible. I was just telling the guys I can’t remember the last time I got sprayed with sweat and blood like three times tonight.”
On the criticism of the officiating
“Nevada’s always been looked at
as the best for referees and stuff like that because they get the most work. They don’t get a lot of work anymore but we’re going to change that. I thought the ref was way too involved in the fight than he should have been.”
On the IBF not sanctioning the bout
“There’s no doubt that he’s the best in the world and that he paid his sanctioning fees. They flew a guy out here and then saying they were disrespected at the press conference — the belt was in front of him the entire time and he held it in his hand when he did the face off. The Zuffa belt was in the middle because nobody had it. He had the other two belts and they were fighting for that one.
“It’s pretty clear what they’re doing and what’s going on and I see lawsuits coming, that’s what I see. [Opetaia] wanted this. He wanted to fight for the belt. I mean, when you think about it, the guy has fought for the IBF title like 11 times or something, broke his jaw in two places one time and finished the fight, and that’s the way they’re going to do it? It’s very, very odd and very unprofessional. So we’ll see how this thing plays out.”
On how he feels about how Zuffa has been coming along in the early going
“Well, I think we’re going to get better every single fight…We now have 22 television deals in 88 countries. So every time I come back in front of you and do another press conference we have more countries, we have more TV deals. And when you think about for these fighters to be able to get the exposure that they’re going to get under Zuffa Boxing, it’s just — we’re four fights in and we’re second to literally none.”
On rival promoter Eddie Hearn getting involved as a manger for Tom Aspinall
“Is he a rival promoter? I haven’t seen a f-ckin’ rival anything from Eddie Hearn or any of these other guys. He’s a manager now. Who gives a sh-t?! We deal with lots of different people. I wouldn’t call Eddie Hearn a rival anything…What is Eddie Hearn going to bring to the management table that we haven’t seen in the last 25 years?”
On believing the IBF tried to torpedo his event by withdrawing their sanctioning last minute
“That’s exactly what they did, because that press release came out pretty late on a Friday night when they were planning on having a title fight on Sunday. So, yeah.
“I was expecting a lot more from boxing, period, than what I’ve seen. Listen, this sport is broken for a reason. Everybody is a bunch of rinky-dink — I mean, it’s the most f-ckin’ rinky-dink thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know why I expected more from any of these people but boy, let me tell you what, sh-t’s about to get good!”
On UFC fighters upset about seeing Conor Benn get a huge payday relative to what they get
“Why is it a bad thing when guys make more money? It’s never a bad thing when guys make more money, it’s always a good thing when there’s more money in the sport. And since 2001 fighter pay has gone [up] nonstop. Obviously, we just got a great television rights deal, I promise you that fighter pay is going to be just fine over the next seven years.”
On whether he’s done trying to cooperate with sanctioning bodies
“Whatever fighter comes in here, whoever we end up signing, before I ever got into the game these kids had goals and dreams and ambitions and things they wanted to accomplish in boxing. And we want to help them with that…and obviously if it meant working with sanctioning organizations, Jai wanted to do this, he paid his fee. [The IBF representative] flew over here and got his per diem and hopped back on a f-ckin’ plane and flew back. I mean, we did everything that you’re supposed to do, so we’ll see how it plays out. It’ll be on a case by case basis.”
On his big plans for Zuffa
“This has been such a joke, coming into this business, and these people are so unsophisticated and so bad at what they do, we might actually be doing 44 fights this year just like the UFC.”
