{"id":418750,"date":"2026-01-17T09:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418750\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T09:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:02:18","slug":"zuffa-boxing-scores-major-signing-with-jai-opetaia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418750\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuffa Boxing scores major signing with Jai Opetaia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zuffa Boxing has announced it’s biggest signing to date, Ring and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia,<\/a> a rising star in the sport. The announcement was made Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPumped for the future,\u201d Opetaia said in a Zuffa Boxing video that was posted on X. \u201cExciting times. Let\u2019s get these big fights over the line. Unification [and] undisputed soon. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/Zuffa_Boxing\/status\/2012319620641026150<\/p>\n

Opetaia (29-0, 23 KOs) established himself as one of the top cruiserweights when he won the then-vacant IBF title in a unanimous decision victory over multiple-time world champion Mairis Briedis<\/a> in May 2024.<\/p>\n

The dynamic southpaw from Sydney, Australia, has successfully defended his belt five times over two reigns, including a rematch with Briedis.<\/p>\n

Opetaia, 30, last fought on Dec. 6, taking down previously unbeaten Huseyin Cinkara<\/a> by an eighth-round knockout.
Zuffa Boxing\u2019s first show will take place January 23. The main event pits 154-pound contender Callum Walsh <\/a>(15-0, 11 KOs) against Carlos Ocampo (38-3, 26 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight bout at Meta Apex in Las Vegas. <\/p>\n

Also on the card, Misael Rodriguez (15-0, 7 KOs) will face Austin Deanda (17-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight matchup. And Julian Rodriguez (24-1, 15 KOs) will fight Cain Sandoval (17-0, 15 KOs) in a 10-round welterweight bout.<\/p>\n

The show begins at 9 p.m. ET and will be streamed on Paramount Plus.<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing was formed by TKO and Sela, an entertainment conglomerate. The company\u2019s leadership includes Dana White, president and CEO of UFC; Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority and owner of The Ring; Sela managing director and CEO Dr. Rakan AlHarthy, and WWE president Nick Khan, who is a TKO board member as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zuffa Boxing has announced it’s biggest signing to date, Ring and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, a rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,2989,2983,2831,2988,2981,2984,2985,2986,2987,2982,1920,2993,2992,1913,2976,2977,2990,2978,2975,2994,2772,85,2991,2974,2980,2979],"class_list":["post-418750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-community","tag-boxing-fights","tag-boxing-history","tag-boxing-interviews","tag-boxing-magazine","tag-boxing-photos","tag-boxing-rankings","tag-boxing-results","tag-boxing-schedule","tag-boxing-videos","tag-boxing-news","tag-disqualification","tag-draw","tag-fight","tag-fighter","tag-fighter-news","tag-knockout","tag-latest-boxing-matches","tag-ring","tag-ring-magazine","tag-split-decision","tag-sports","tag-technical-knockout","tag-the-ring","tag-top-fighters","tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418750","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=418750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}