{"id":662975,"date":"2026-05-11T20:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/662975\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T20:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:34:21","slug":"dana-white-gives-cryptic-response-to-shakur-stevenson-zuffa-boxing-rumor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/662975\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White Gives Cryptic Response to Shakur Stevenson-Zuffa Boxing Rumor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4q\">Could Zuffa Boxing have signed its next big star?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4t\">The company has been rapidly adding fighters to its banner over the past four months. Late last week, Sports Illustrated senior writer <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SIChrisMannix\/status\/2052937960132342034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2052937960132342034%7Ctwgr%5Eede1e3a205e42744a26177158ab048d677075e09%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fembedly.forbes.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3D3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935schema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Fx.com%2FSIChrisMannix%2Fstatus%2F2052937960132342034image%3D\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chris Mannix reported <\/a>that 140-pound champion and pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson is finalizing a deal to sign with Zuffa Boxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4w\">Stevenson, currently ranked third on the Ring Magazine\u2019s pound-for-pound rankings, is one of the biggest stars in the sport, and arguably the best current American fighter following Terence Crawford&#8217;s retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dana White teases Shakur Stevenson signing<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"52\">At the post-card press conference for Zuffa 06, Dana White addressed the report from Mannix, leaving the answer up in the air.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"55\">\u201cDid we announce Shakur Stevenson? No? Possibly,\u201d White said with a smirk. \u201cListen, at the end of the day, I think that everybody is going to be here at Zuffa Boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5c\">Zuffa Boxing has been ramping up its high-profile signings in recent months. In April, super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga and welterweight contender Richardson Hitchins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/boxing\/zuffa-boxing-announces-its-latest-major-signings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced deals with Zuffa Boxing<\/a>. Later in the month, British cruiserweight contender Chris Billiam-Smith announced a deal with Zuffa Boxing and that he would be headlining Zuffa 07 in Bournemouth, England.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">Stevenson would be easily the most high-profile boxer in the Zuffa Boxing stable. Stevenson and Conor Benn have also gone back and forth, both in person and on social media, when discussing a potential fight.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01jrtqbadw2kw7krqrgd.jpg\" alt=\"Shakur Stevenson\" title=\"Shakur Stevenson\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5p\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Shakur Stevenson is one of the biggest stars in all of boxing. | IMAGO \/ Torsten Helmke<\/p>\n<p>White hinted at another large signing for Zuffa Boxing<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">Shakur Stevenson wasn\u2019t the only popular American boxer that Dana White hinted at signing.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">White was also asked about the potential of welterweight champion Devin Haney signing with Zuffa Boxing. Haney and his father, Bill Haney, hinted at a large $100 million contract with a promotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">&#8220;New deal worth over 100 million before 30 years old? Who\u2019s your manager?&#8221; Bill Haney teased on X.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">New deal worth over 100 million before 30 years old? <\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s your manager? \ud83d\ude0e<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bill Haney (@BillHaney77) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BillHaney77\/status\/2052084922005754056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">White was also asked about the rumors that the contract was with Zuffa Boxing, to which he replied with a smirk.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">\u201cI think that everybody is going to be at Zuffa Boxing eventually,\u201d White said. \u201cAt the end of 2026 \u2026 judge us by our body of work as we head into 2027. I don\u2019t know why I would say things that aren\u2019t true. Look at what we\u2019ve done in just four months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">Whether it\u2019s a big fight for Haney, Stevenson, or Conor Benn, Zuffa Boxing and White are building up their stable to compete with other major boxing promotions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could Zuffa Boxing have signed its next big star?\u00a0 The company has been rapidly adding fighters to its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-662975","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\/662975","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=662975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}