Maxx Crosby’s meniscus tear last October did a lot to hamper his NFL journey this season. He almost went to the Baltimore Ravens this offseason, but concerns about his knee shut that door and sent him back to the Las Vegas Raiders. Crosby had 4 months to sit on what happened, and his good friend, the president and CEO of UFC, believes this is the year Crosby proves all the doubters wrong.

8 News Now’s Alexis Bass caught up with White recently and asked whether he envisions a 20-sack season for Crosby in 2026. While White didn’t dole out numbers, his message landed nevertheless.

“He’s an animal, and he’s got a big chip on his shoulder right now,” White said. “Cause coming off this injury, there’s nothing better than when people think you’re down and out and everybody’s talking smack, and you get to come out and prove everybody wrong. I know that’s what he’s looking forward to this season.

“I was actually out of town; I was in Ireland, and I heard that him and the new quarterback got into it the other day. Typical Maxx Crosby, which I love. He’s an animal. And, yeah, I think he’s going to have an incredible season this season, and he’s going to exceed everybody’s expectations.”

White is, of course, referring to the physical altercation that happened between Kirk Cousins and Crosby on Friday, August 7th. Crosby had notably hit Cousins twice on his arm during team drills, following which Cousins grabbed Crosby’s jersey and got into a heated exchange. Players stepped in and had to separate the two team leaders. Following this altercation, head coach Klint Kubiak held both of them out of Saturday’s practice for violating team rules.

“Yeah, that’s training camp,” Kubiak said in his presser later that day. “Those are two leaders of our team going at it. So, that is part of camp. Obviously, you fight in a game, you throw a punch in the game, especially, then you’re out of the game. So, we’ve got to be smart, treat it like a game.”

As for Dana White’s prediction, he knows firsthand what kind of a competitor Crosby is. White has even asked Crosby to take up a career in UFC, and Crosby, in turn, has kept that door open. And in the Raiders’ locker room, Crosby’s presence does a lot to raise the bar for others around him. Once he hit training camp – fully healed from his knee surgery – he attacked the reps with such intensity that Coach Kubiak and defensive coordinator Rob Leonard actually had to remind him not to make contact with the quarterback. But judging from his altercation with Kirk Cousins, that message hadn’t fully sunk in.

“I just can’t tell you how many people have come up to me already and just been like, ‘All right, so you know at practice, you can’t do this,” Crosby said with a smile earlier in the camp, per ESPN. “I got up a whole textbook full of rules that I got to follow, or I’m going to get in trouble, but that comes with it. … I practice one way. I know that I push the line, and sometimes I go over the line.”

Crosby had also offered a similar line to Dana White when he talked about how difficult being sidelined with the injury was for him.

“I’m like a big-a** baby,” Crosby had said. “I’m stuck on a damn couch. I can’t do anything. Those are the things that people don’t really get to see, and the emotional, the mental part of it, and it forces you to make a choice of how you’re going to attack the whole process.”

For now, Maxx Crosby is attacking training camp just like he attacks every single game – no holds barred. With the regular season right around the corner, we’ll get to see just how explosive he can be this season and whether he makes Dana White’s prediction come true.