Dana White Flatly Rejects Strickland's Bid to Box Jai Opetaia
The UFC boss says MMA-to-boxing crossovers don't work and his middleweight champ isn't getting the green light.
Sean Strickland wanted to trade his four-ounce gloves for boxing mitts. Dana White told him no.
The UFC middleweight champion has been publicly pushing to cross over into Zuffa Boxing and fight cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia, who is undefeated at 31-0. Strickland even offered to vacate his 185-pound belt to make it happen. During a live broadcast with influencer Nina Drama, White shut the door. He praised Strickland's hands but said active UFC fighters will not be crossing into boxing because those matchups "don't go well," per MMA Sucka.
White added that Opetaia already has a likely next opponent in Deontay Wilder, possibly on the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua undercard in Cardiff this December.
The boxing request didn't come out of nowhere. Strickland has been feuding with the UFC over money for weeks. His rematch negotiations with Nassourdine Imavov stalled over pay, and he called the UFC's contract offer insulting. He compared his compensation to Conor McGregor's earnings and pointed to Conor Benn's reported $15 million boxing deal as proof that boxing pays better. "Unless things change with the UFC I'm kinda over it," Strickland said, per MMA Sucka.
Strickland and Imavov recently had a tense face-to-face confrontation at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. Despite the public frustration, Strickland has not filed formal paperwork to vacate his title or leave the promotion. He won the belt for a second time in May, beating Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328.
This is the most predictable no in UFC history. Strickland has legitimate hands for an MMA fighter, but walking into a ring with Jai Opetaia, a 31-0 cruiserweight who is bigger, longer, and has been boxing his entire life? That's not a fight. That's a mismatch wrapped in a negotiation tactic.
And that's exactly what this is. Strickland doesn't really want to box Opetaia. He wants leverage. He saw what happened when McGregor crossed over, he sees what Zuffa Boxing pays its headliners, and he's doing the math on his own paychecks. I respect the hustle, honestly. The man won the belt twice and he's still having to beg for a fair deal. But Dana was never going to let his middleweight champ walk into a boxing ring and get knocked out on a Zuffa card. That's bad for business.
Strickland will be back in the Octagon. The question is how much more money he can squeeze out of the UFC before he signs. My guess: not enough to make him happy, but enough to make him fight.
https://mmasucka.com/news/dana-white-no-sean-strickland-crossover-one-fighter-more-than-likely/
