{"id":500813,"date":"2026-02-26T12:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500813\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:51:11","slug":"jai-opetaia-fires-warning-to-zuffa-boxing-after-promotional-switch-ill-be-very-disappointed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500813\/","title":{"rendered":"Jai Opetaia fires warning to Zuffa Boxing after promotional switch: \u2018I\u2019ll be very disappointed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jai Opetaia<\/a> has warned that he will be \u201cvery f***ing disappointed\u201d if Zuffa Boxing does not enable him to unify the cruiserweight world titles.<\/p>\n

Opetaia joined Zuffa last month<\/a>, as the first high-profile signing<\/a> by the new promotion, which is headed up by UFC president Dana White<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One curious element of Opetaia\u2019s decision to join is that he has long expressed a desire to become undisputed cruiserweight champion \u2013 which would require him to add the remaining traditional belts to his IBF title \u2013 while Zuffa suggested it wants to move away from the current belt system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet Opetaia, 30, has stressed that his goal remains the same, as the unbeaten Australian prepares to face Brandon Glanton on 8 March. <\/p>\n

In that fight, a new Zuffa title will be on the line, but it is unclear whether Opetaia\u2019s IBF belt will be consisted. The boxer told the Mayweather Channel<\/a> last week, \u201cI hope so, [it\u2019s] not 100 per cent confirmed,\u201d and The Independent has approached the IBF for comment.<\/p>\n

Still, he told RG<\/a> this week that his goal is still \u201cundisputed\u201d, before he fired a warning to the Zuffa hierarchy: \u201cIf we don\u2019t get one [unification fight] by the end of the year, I\u2019ll be very f***ing disappointed. <\/p>\n

\"Jai<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Jai Opetaia has a professional record of 29-0 (23 KOs) (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t take your mind off undisputed. We’re chasing unification fights […] When you think of me, you think: \u2018Bro, he wants to be undisputed.\u2019 That\u2019s it. I\u2019m not worried about anyone else, I don\u2019t chase names. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even care if it was \u2018Zurdo\u2019 [Gilberto Ramirez], or if it was [David] Benavidez, or if it was back when it was [Chris] Billam-Smith. I actually respect these dudes. I think they\u2019re great fighters, I think they\u2019re great world champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opetaia (29-0, 23 knockouts) had long been linked to a unification fight with Ramirez, who holds the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles, but the Mexican has since been paired with Benavidez<\/a>, whom he will fight on 2 May.<\/p>\n

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As such, Opetaia\u2019s pairing with Glanton comes as somewhat of a disappointment to many fans, especially given the American recently lost to Billam-Smith, who was beaten by Ramirez in his previous fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"UFC<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

UFC president and CEO Dana White is heading up Zuffa Boxing (Getty)<\/p>\n

In any case, Opetaia insisted that Zuffa has \u201cthe same goal\u201d as him, adding: \u201cThere was a couple of things. We sort of sat down, we went over what we wanted to do, and they said they can help us make sure things happen like that. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gonna help us make sure it happens the way we want it, to the best of their ability. But yeah, man, it just fit. It made sense, so why not?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-500813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500813","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=500813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}