{"id":424298,"date":"2026-01-21T20:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/424298\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:09:12","slug":"dana-white-in-talks-to-sign-oleksandr-usyk-to-new-boxing-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/424298\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White in talks to sign Oleksandr Usyk to new boxing venture"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC<\/a> president Dana White<\/a> has expressed interest in signing heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> to Zuffa Boxing, according to the bruiser\u2019s team director.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian is currently a free agent after parting ways with longstanding promoter Alex Krassyuk<\/a> from K2 Promotions last summer, and as such White is said to be plotting a move to sign the 39-year-old.<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing was founded by White and Turki Alalshikh<\/a> in June in a bid to change the global boxing landscape, with last September\u2019s mega-fight between Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez<\/a> the company\u2019s inaugural event.<\/p>\n

\"Saul<\/p>\n

Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez facing off with Terence Crawford (right) (Getty)<\/p>\n

In an interview with Talksport Bet, <\/a>Usyk\u2019s team director Sergey Lapin said: \u201cThere is contact, there is dialogue, and interest exists [from Dana White<\/a> and Zuffa Boxing].<\/p>\n

\u201cDetails aren\u2019t for the public right now. Let\u2019s say a few doors are open and if format, numbers, and timing align, the market could see a move nobody expects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing is building traction with signings, among which include the acquisition of current IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia<\/a>, with the Australian fighter remaining unbeaten in 29 of his professional bouts.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Daniel Dubois was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk last summer (Bradley Collyer\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Lapin added: \u201cEveryone has seen what he [Dana White] did.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe turned \u2018old MMA\u2019 into the global UFC machine. His real power is packaging not just a fight, but an event. If he gets involved, the scale and attention immediately become different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-time undisputed champion took to X to post a video of himself riding a motorbike in Thailand, which is where his recent foe Tyson Fury has currently set up his regimented training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gypsy King\u201d has been typically vocal about his latest return to the sport<\/a> as he continues to seek an opportunity to become a three-time heavyweight world champion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC president Dana White has expressed interest in signing heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to Zuffa Boxing, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[177486,703,49,48,5051,10359,86137,5384,177485,82,177484,13036,640,75400],"class_list":["post-424298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-alex-krassyuk","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canelo-alvarez","tag-dana-white","tag-heavyweight-champion","tag-oleksandr-usyk","tag-sergey-lapin","tag-sports","tag-team-director","tag-terence-crawford","tag-ufc","tag-zuffa-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}