{"id":138288,"date":"2025-09-12T18:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138288\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T18:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:25:08","slug":"its-a-big-weekend-for-boxings-own-dana-white-and-oh-yeah-dont-forget-theres-a-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138288\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a big weekend for boxing\u2019s own Dana White \u2014 and oh yeah, don\u2019t forget there\u2019s a UFC!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It just so happens that Ilia Topuria is a tightrope walker between the boxing and MMA realms, as any responsible champion in today\u2019s world should be. Earlier this week, the UFC lightweight king said he would knock out Terence \u201cBud\u201d Crawford<\/a> on \u201cfirst contact\u201d should they ever meet in the ring.<\/p>\n

His exact words were, \u201cI won\u2019t talk about what would happen between me and Crawford in an Octagon. I\u2019ll talk about what would happen in a ring. I put him to sleep in the first contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve seen this old song and dance before. A UFC champion making flirtatious eyes at the fellows in heavier gloves, trying to drum up some interest. At this point our immune systems for this kind of behavior should\u2019ve flushed it out, but instead it was a running headline for the next couple of days. A bit of sporting fun, is all.<\/p>\n

Crawford, of course, responded that Topuria must\u2019ve been in his cups. He cited the propensity for MMA fighters to imbibe willy-nilly as a probable cause for the post. Or, to use his exact words, \u201cThat dude\u2019s drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, none of this would mean much if the timing weren\u2019t so unique. This weekend Zuffa Boxing launches in a big way, featuring two of the biggest names going \u2014 Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and “Bud” Crawford. The MMA world, which UFC CEO Dana White created out of the Fertitta pocketbook and a strong will, can be excused for having a little FOMO.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Dad\u2019s spending more and more time with his other family. White will be in Las Vegas come Saturday night, not in San Antonio, where Noche UFC is taking place. Both events are celebrating Mexican Independence Day, one in the epicenter of the fight world free on Netflix, the other on ESPN+ along the famous River Walk. The face of the UFC is now the face of Zuffa Boxing, which White promises will take off in an even bigger way next year when things really get going.<\/p>\n

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Needless to say, these are wild times.<\/p>\n

If you went back a decade and tried to imagine a future in which White was promoting “Canelo” in the boxing world while largely leaving the UFC to do its thing on the same night, I\u2019d have said you were as drunk as Topuria.<\/p>\n

Then again, that\u2019s where Turki Alalshikh and the TKO conglomerate come in. White arrived to MMA as a boxing fan, and \u2014 though he made the UFC famous by making it everything boxing wasn\u2019t \u2014 he\u2019s been searching for entry points back to his first love for more than a decade. Once Turki and the Saudis came in with an endless money supply, the dominoes began to fall. First things first, throw a massive event. Second thing\u2019s second, try to get some amendments to that stubborn Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act<\/a>, which is in place to protect boxing from the likes of \u2026 well \u2026 Dana White\u2019s way of thinking.<\/p>\n

Third things third, fuse UFC ideologies into the \u201cbroken\u201d boxing model and watch the sweet science slip into something a little more comfortable. Which means, into the control room where Dana White can operate as close to business as usual as he does with the UFC. Which means, controllable belts and rankings and of course fighter pay. The \u201cAli Revival Act\u201d that TKO requested<\/a> is for boxing what that vampire tapping on the window in “Salem\u2019s Lot” was for that kid in his room.<\/p>\n

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Once invited in, things are going to change.<\/p>\n

\"LAS<\/p>\n

Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (L) faces off with Terence Crawford as Dana White looks on.<\/p>\n

(Steve Marcus via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

And they will change.<\/p>\n

It starts this weekend. Last year, as the UFC introduced its first-ever real homage to Mexican Independence, it rented out the Sphere in Las Vegas for a night to throw a massive shindig. White said the UFC ponied up in the vicinity of $20 million to put on a card headlined by Georgian fighter Merab Dvalishvili and the loosely affiliated \u201cMexican\u201d champion, \u201cSuga\u201d Sean O\u2019Malley, which was part of Riyadh Season. In food terms, it was the fight game\u2019s equivalent of a goulash.<\/p>\n

Just down the street, at the T-Mobile Arena, “Canelo” Alvarez was doing his standing September date, defending his super middleweight title against Edgar Berlanga. They happened on the same night, and Turki\u2019s presence was felt all over the Strip. So was the air of big fights. At the hotel, droves of people moved with “Canelo” as he made his way around. It was hard to tell who was in his entourage and who was simply being trampled by it.<\/p>\n

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But one thing was certain: Even with the high-priced venue and a novelty card, the UFC knew that Vegas belonged to “Canelo” on that date. All the bells and whistles the UFC had couldn\u2019t divert the broader fight world\u2019s attention. A few years earlier, when Nate Diaz fought Jorge Masvidal at Madison Square Garden, “Canelo” was forced to wait an hour while UFC 244 played out before fighting Sergey Kovalev.<\/p>\n

Not in Vegas. Not during Mexican Independence Day. Not when the blockbuster of the boxing world brings half of the Mexican population to Vegas for an extended party.<\/p>\n

A year later, “Canelo” is going in for his September tradition, this time against the weight-jumping “Bud” Crawford at the much-larger Allegiant Stadium. It\u2019s one of the biggest fights for boxing in many years, a \u201conce in a lifetime\u201d event to hear White say it. Some 1,300 miles away Diego Lopes will face Jean Silva at Noche UFC<\/a>, which is a fine fight. It\u2019s not the fight though. Not on this occasion.<\/p>\n

The fight is Canelo-Crawford. That\u2019s the one White will be at, because this weekend cashing in on “Canelo” \u2014 and on the world of boxing as we know it \u2014 has a far better ring to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It just so happens that Ilia Topuria is a tightrope walker between the boxing and MMA realms, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,2739,18275,18276,958,786,17499,91326,94918,785,85,94917,960,787],"class_list":["post-138288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing-world","tag-canelo","tag-crawford","tag-dana-white","tag-fighting","tag-ilia-topuria","tag-mexican-independence","tag-mexican-independence-day","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-terence-bud-crawford","tag-turki-alalshikh","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}