{"id":716639,"date":"2026-06-05T11:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716639\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:03:15","slug":"more-mayhem-than-ever-stevie-mckenna-promises-dana-white-brand-of-chaos-ahead-of-zuffa-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/716639\/","title":{"rendered":"More Mayhem than Ever \u2013 Stevie McKenna Promises Dana White Brand of Chaos Ahead of Zuffa Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a case of new promoter, same manic Stevie McKenna<\/a>, assures the ever entertaining fighter. <\/p>\n

The Monaghan native makes his debut under the Zuffa Boxing banner this weekend and fans expecting a more measured version of the entertaining Irish puncher are in for disappointment.<\/p>\n

If anything, McKenna is promising an even more destructive edition of the fighter who earned the nickname \u2018The Hitman\u2019 through a relentless pursuit of knockouts and chaos.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old returns to action for the first time in 539 days when he faces American Casey James Streeter at the Bournemouth International Centre on Saturday night, officially beginning a new chapter under Dana White\u2019s Zuffa Boxing banner.<\/p>\n

And while the promotional logo on the posters has changed, McKenna insists the trademark mayhem remains firmly intact.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m raring to get back fighting again,\u201d said\u00a0McKenna<\/a>, who suffered the first loss of his career against England\u2019s Lee Cutler last time out told the Irish Mirror.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 18 months out of the ring, but I\u2019ve been working every day in the gym, working hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very exciting to be back fighting again and I\u2019m going to be very active with Zuffa Boxing, that\u2019s the main thing. I\u2019m looking to fight three times this year, get back to knocking people out and bringing more mayhem than ever. I\u2019m ready to be unleashed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great being back in fight week again,\u201d McKenna added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long 18 months, but I spent 18 months in the gym training hard, so I\u2019m bigger and stronger now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fighting at middleweight, and I just can\u2019t wait to be unleashed, really. I\u2019m like a lion ready to get out of the cage and attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

That warning will sound familiar to Irish fight fans.<\/p>\n

The older brother of soon tbe world title challenger Aaron McKenna has never been one for safety-first boxing. His all-action style has delivered 14 stoppages from 15 victories and helped establish him as one of the most entertaining fighters on the scene.<\/p>\n

Now, after an extended spell out of the ring, he believes the version returning under the Zuffa banner is stronger, bigger and more dangerous than ever.<\/p>\n

The move to middleweight was partly influenced by Zuffa\u2019s active weight classes, but McKenna reveals the jump was coming regardless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was bursting at the weight below anyway, so middleweight made more sense for me,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m big and strong at the weight. I\u2019m six-foot-two, I can punch, I\u2019m very strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working hard in the gym, and you\u2019re gonna see an improved, stronger Stevie McKenna that\u2019s more vicious on fight night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Smithborough native joins Callum Walsh and Feargal McKenna on the books of Zuffa.<\/p>\n

He reveals that when Dana White announced his move into professional boxing, he immediately wanted in.<\/p>\n

The Monaghan man sees parallels between the UFC\u2019s rise and what Zuffa could achieve in boxing, and was quick to sign on when the opportunity arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cZuffa Boxing is the future of boxing,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I heard Dana White was getting involved in boxing, I wanted to be a part of it immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim and Nick Khan are geniuses. It\u2019s the best promotion in combat sport between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s great to be a part of Zuffa.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst off it\u2019s all about Saturday night, and going back to doing what I do best, and that\u2019s knock people out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a case of new promoter, same manic Stevie McKenna, assures the ever entertaining fighter. The Monaghan native…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82,259519,75400],"class_list":["post-716639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-stevie-mckenna","tag-zuffa-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716639","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=716639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}