Shots fired.<\/p>\n
Zuffa Boxing held its third event<\/a> this past weekend, delivering a card filled with stoppages \u2014 including the heavyweight main event between Efe Ajagba and Charles Martin (watch highlights<\/a>). But while the in-ring action impressed, UFC CEO Dana White has been more surprised by what hasn\u2019t happened outside of it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Namely \u2014 resistance.<\/p>\n During the Zuffa Boxing 3 post-fight press conference, White was asked whether he\u2019s faced any pushback from established promoters since entering the sport.<\/p>\n He hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been any pushback,\u201d White said. \u201cThis is like beating up babies. I feel like I came in and I\u2019m beating up babies. I expected more. I expected some pushback. I expected them to be more game. They\u2019re all way out of their league. Like absolutely, positively out of their league. I\u2019m actually a little shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n White continues to preach patience regarding his new boxing venture, repeatedly telling critics to \u201cjudge me at the end of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cAs I said, I\u2019ll lay out a body of work this year, and then you can judge me by how this thing plays out. Everybody knows that boxing has been broken for a long time,\u201d White said. \u201cI said what I was going to do. I never said anything bad about the WBC or the IBF or any of them. I just said I\u2019m not going to do business with them. I\u2019m going to do my own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Recently, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing mocked Zuffa\u2019s newly unveiled championship belt<\/a>, which will debut when Jai Opetaia faces Brandon Glanton for the Cruiserweight title at Zuffa Boxing 4.<\/p>\n White finally responded.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Eddie Hearn saying the belt is cringey and all this stuff<\/a>,\u201d White said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody looks at Eddie Hearn and says, \u2018oh this guy\u2019s a visionary.\u2019 The guy\u2019s been in boxing forever. I look at him like most politicians. You\u2019ve done nothing in the sport except stay in the lane and play by all the rules \u2014 you ended up becoming part of the problem, is what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to sit here and smash Eddie Hearn or anything, but Eddie Hearn works for his dad,\u201d White continued. \u201cHe works for dad and I don\u2019t think he\u2019s come in and ever had any type of vision, whereas we do and we\u2019re going to change the entire sport. I understand the people who are the status quo in boxing don\u2019t like it. But it doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t still do their thing. If your thing is as good as you think it is, and you are as good as you think you are, then do your thing. Good luck to you. I\u2019m going to do my thing and they\u2019re going to do theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n And Hearn wasn\u2019t the only target.<\/p>\n