Legendary trainer Robert Garcia has revealed that ZUFFA Boxing and Dana White are set to announce a world championship main event.
Whilst Dana White has insisted to judge ZUFFA Boxing’s product in 12 months time, they have caused immense disruption in the first few months of 2026.
This venture into boxing is financially supported by SELA and Turki Al-Sheikh.
The intention is to revolutionise what they deem a ‘broken’ sport.
Their most recent event saw Jai Opetaia (30-0, 23ko’s) defeat Brandon Glanton (21-4, 18ko’s) via unanimous decision to become the inaugural ZUFFA Boxing world champion.
The ZUFFA belt is what has caused the majority of controversy.
Dana White and ZUFFA have publicly declared their intention to disregard the four recognised governing bodies, the WBC, WBO, WBA, and IBF.
Just yesterday, Opetaia was stripped of his IBF cruiserweight world title.
Criticism from existing promoters like Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya has sparked into a fully fledged battle between the so called ‘old guard’ and the ‘new kids on the block’.
Undoubtedly the most shocking play from ZUFFA so far was the signing of Conor Benn (24-1, 14ko’s).
Benn was with Matchroom Boxing from professional debut.
Eddie Hearn stuck by Conor Benn during a two year process to exonerate the welterweight of any wrong doing after failing two VADA tests.
The manager of Conor Benn is Keith Connolly, and it seems he has signed another one of his starlets with the new promotion.
Speaking to ESNEWS, Robert Garcia has revealed that ‘Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8ko’s) will face Lindolfo Delgado (24-0, 16ko’s) on a ZUFFA Boxing event’.
Hitchins is the current IBF super-lightweight world champion.
After the controversy surrounding Opetaia, ZUFFA, and the IBF, it will be interesting to see whether ZUFFA and the IBF can find a solution best for the fighters.
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