Back in mid-2024, Dana White and Sheikh Turki Alalshikh shook hands with a plan to take boxing back to its former glory. And the first superfight would be between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. Weighing in on this, the Chairman of Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority tweeted, “We will deliver the fight of the century with Riyadh Season on Sept. 12 at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. The legend Canelo defends his Ring Magazine title vs. the great Terence Crawford. TV platform will be announced soon with big surprise. My brother Dana White will promote this first TKO boxing event with me. It will be something crazy.” But fight fans didn’t really get as excited as White and Sheikh Turki Alalshikh expected them to be. 

Dubbed as one of the most financially significant fights in the history of boxing, the Chairman of Saudi Arabian GEA made sure the purse for Alvarez vs. Crawford became a highlight of the bout. The total purse is actually a whopping sum of $200 million, with Crawford laying claims to $150M and Alvarez going for the rest. With dreams of hosting more than 60K spectators and at the Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, White is indeed stepping in to make history. After all, it’s the first big fight in boxing that he’d promote. 

But when the UFC dropped in a post on Instagram regarding the pre-fight press conference for the bout, things went awfully wrong. The UFC shared a poster of the event. And the caption read, “Canelo vs Crawford. A once in a lifetime fight. Don’t miss their first U.S. appearance at Fanatics Fest. Tickets in @fanaticsfest @fanatics bio🎟️#CaneloCrawford.” It didn’t take long for the fight fans to lash out at Dana White. 

As soon as the post hit the threshold of the social media platform, the fighting community took control of the comments section and revealed their thoughts. Let’s see what emotions ran through the fans as they made their comments live. 

Dana White has earned the fans’ scorn

Of course, as per Mark Shapiro, TKO Boxing wasn’t really the name that the company was going with for White’s new venture. Maybe that’s the reason why most people seemed confused with UFC’s official IG account promoting a boxing bout. One fan commented, “Crazy that we got ufc promoting boxing now 😭.” Another fan claimed that it was nothing special. The comment read, “Over hyped bullis— nothing special happening here.” One more fan added, “This is the dumbest s— I’ve ever seen.” But one fan dragged Sheikh Turki Alalshikh into the picture and wrote, “Looks like Turk plans to buy UFC but before that White has to grow the viewership again. This is an add on clause if you ever know anything about sales 😂 .”

Meanwhile, many fans were still stuck with the uncertainty regarding the bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. One fan commented, “We are not even buying ufc tickets until you make the tom-jon fight happen or strip jon. What makes you think we care about this?” Another fan dismissed it all, asking the UFC to stick to MMA. The fan wrote, “Ufc posting boxing instead of promoting they own promotion and making tom vs jones.”

Nevertheless, there were a few fans who seemed a bit excited about Dana White’s new venture. One fan claimed, “It’s crazy that this is the most exciting fight news UFC has put out in a long time lol.” Another fan knew the stakes and commended the matchmakers with his comment. The comment went like, “History gonna be made once again 🥊.”

What are your thoughts on UFC promoting the battle between Alvarez and Crawford? Do you think it’ll be a successful venture for the UFC CEO and Sheikh Turki Alalshikh? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.