Dana White has made it clear that he would sign “F— everybody” under Zuffa Boxing. Now, David Benavidez has responded and laid out the exact conditions that the head honcho needs to comply with if they want to sign him. 

The Mexican American boxing star made history by defeating Gilberto Ramirez via sixth-round knockout to capture the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas yesterday. With that win, Benavidez became a three-division champion, the first fighter to claim world titles. After achieving that feat, it placed him firmly within the kind of elite pool White wants to build around. However, Benavidez made it clear that his singing with Zuffa depends on a potential collaboration. If White is willing to work with Premier Boxing Champions and DAZN, then there is a path forward.

“I think that, I mean, yeah, I think they definitely are losing their power,” Benavidez said in a recent interview with The Ring Magazine. “There’s just a lot of politics in that. I think Dana White has shown that he doesn’t want to do fights with PBC, DAZN. And I don’t want to sound like I’m disrespecting him, but that’s just what it looks like from the outside. If we can come to an agreement and make a big fight, let’s do it.”

‘The Mexican Monster’ clearly has a vested interest in maintaining ties with PBC and DAZN. To be honest, much of his rise has been built through those platforms, which helped elevate him into one of boxing’s most recognizable names. But on the other side, Dana White has repeatedly expressed skepticism about how traditional boxing promotions and streaming services operate.

During a Zuffa Boxing press conference, White took aim at established figures like Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya, along with PBC, criticizing what he sees as a lack of consistency in delivering high-volume, big-time fights compared to Zuffa. And that surmised how the UFC head honcho actually feels about the platform. 

At the same time, Zuffa Boxing is currently streaming under TKO’s $7.7-billion deal with Paramount+ and has already started attracting notable names like Conor Benn and, recently, Chris Billam-Smith. Those moves signaled that the promotion is making a steady effort to assemble a roster capable of competing at the highest level. 

In that case, if Benavidez and White can find common ground, there would be multiple possibilities that would become hard to ignore. Even a fight with Jai Opetaia would become a stark possibility, which the Mexican American is currently a little skeptical about. 

David Benavidez feels Jai Opetaia shouldn’t have signed with Zuffa Boxing  

Jai Opetaia remained highly interested in a potential clash with the winner of David Benavidez vs Gilberto Ramirez from the beginning. Now, as the winner has been decided, the Aussie is expected to push for a clash against the Mexican, which could become one of the most anticipated cruiserweight bouts of the year. Yet, Benavidez believes that Opetaia, currently signed with Zuffa Boxing, has placed a temporary constraint on their clash.

So far, Benavidez is clearly not interested in fighting for a Zuffa title against Optaia. Also, he believes the situation became even more problematic after the IBF stripped Opetaia of his belt after he beat Brandon Glanton to be the inaugural Zuffa champ, an event the IBF say they did not sanctioned.

“I don’t know why he went to Zuffa,” Benavidez added in the same interview. “We could have made this fight right after this one. But now, I don’t know if he got stripped by the IBF or what it is. I’m not going to call that fight for a Zuffa title. But I think that will be a great fight in the future.

“I respect Jai Opetaia. He’s a great fighter. And I think he has to come back over here to make these fights happen. Because we can’t make fights like this otherwise.”

That said, with Benavidez clearly having issues with Zuffa Boxing, an immediate deal looks unlikely. But if Zuffa puts forward an offer strong enough, it remains to be seen whether he eventually comes on board.