Dana White has announced two American stars to his growing stable of fighters under the Zuffa banner in Richardson Hitchins and Edgar Berlanga.
As all things are considered it’s been a relatively quiet couple of weeks for Zuffa Boxing and Dana White, but that has just changed.
Boxing’s newest promotional outfit Zuffa Boxing have vowed to takeover the sport, and early signs suggest they will be a major player in the long-term.
Fronted by Dana White, and financially supported by Turki Al-Sheikh and SELA, Zuffa intend to replicate the model of sister company UFC, which hold a monopoly in Mixed Martial Arts.
Monopolising the industry will give Zuffa full control of a sport that has been described as ‘the wild west’.
Unsurprisingly, this has received immense backlash from existing promoters and governing bodies.
Major promoters like Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya have engaged in verbal wars with Dana White over their plans in the sport.
Arugably the heaviest blow Dana White has landed on the industry thus far was the signing of Conor Benn (24-1, 14ko’s).
The signing rocked the world and left career-long promoter of Benn Eddie Hearn distraught.
Keith Connolly, who is Conor Benn’s manager was influential in the deal occurring, and it seems the American manager has struck up an excellent relationship with those over at Zuffa.
Zuffa Boxing have just announced the signings of IBF super-welterweight world champion Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8ko’s) and Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18ko’s), whom both are managed by Keith Connolly.
Unlike Benn, both fighters have signed multi-fight contracts, and are believed to return to the ring this summer.
One questions that arises immediately is will Hitchins vacate his IBF super-lightweight crown.
Famously, the IBF stripped Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia of his belt due to his ties with Zuffa Boxing.
The landscape will become more clear in time regarding Zuffa’s long term plans, but one thing is for sure is they have the financial capabilities to work with the sports very best.
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