{"id":767346,"date":"2026-06-29T07:52:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T07:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/767346\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T07:52:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T07:52:23","slug":"dana-white-says-matchmaking-sets-zuffa-boxing-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/767346\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White Says Matchmaking Sets Zuffa Boxing Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s all about matchmaking and having the best fight the best,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n<p>White also revealed he had recently seen criticism suggesting Zuffa\u2019s approach wouldn\u2019t work, but dismissed those concerns after another action-packed night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw something popped up on my feed the other day\u2026 some dude with gray hair and a beard was saying we\u2019re matchmaking everybody wrong\u2026 Everything is about matchmaking,\u201d said Dana.<\/p>\n<p>The card featured several closely matched contests, including Rayo Valenzuela\u2019s knockout of Edwin De Los Santos and the fight between Cain Sandoval and Brandon Lee, which White said demonstrated the philosophy he wants Zuffa Boxing to follow.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether putting talented prospects in difficult fights early is part of the company\u2019s long-term plan, White argued that boxing has rarely operated with that mindset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the first time there\u2019s ever been a long-term vision for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>White later expanded on that point, saying competitive matchmaking gives cards the best chance of delivering memorable action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that when you do the right matchmaking, 99 percent of the time it should work out right. It\u2019s not always guaranteed\u2026 but the entire business is about matchmaking in any combat sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>White has repeatedly criticized boxing\u2019s tendency to protect unbeaten records by matching prospects against overmatched opposition. Saturday\u2019s event reflected a different approach, with several evenly matched bouts producing competitive action from the opening fight through the main event.<\/p>\n<p>The latest card is likely to strengthen White\u2019s argument that fans are more interested in meaningful matchups than carefully managed records, a philosophy he says will continue to guide Zuffa Boxing as the promotion expands its schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s all about matchmaking and having the best fight the best,\u201d White said. White also revealed he had&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-767346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767346","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=767346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}