After Ajagba’s knockout, White takes aim at boxing’s belt gatekeepers
Efe Ajagba’s fourth-round stoppage of Charles Martin ended quickly. The real fight began at the podium, where Dana White targeted Eddie Hearn, Oscar De La Hoya and the sanctioning bodies.
Hearn had criticized the decision to stage Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton for a Zuffa cruiserweight title, labeling the move “cringe” and questioning the break from traditional sanctioning bodies.
White answered without restraint.
“I saw Eddie Hearn saying that the belt is cringey and all that stuff,” White said. “I don’t think anybody looks at Eddie Hearn and says ‘oh this guy is a visionary’… The guy’s been in boxing forever.
“I look at him like most politicians; you’ve done nothing in the sport except stay in the lane, play by all the rules and ride right along… You ended up becoming part of the problem, is what happened.”
He then widened the exchange to include De La Hoya.
“They don’t stop talking, the WBC and Eddie Hearn and all this sh** that Oscar De La Hoya talks,” White said. “We all know [De La Hoya is] fg mentally ill. The guy’s talking all this s**t and his place is in foreclosure, he’s suing his fighter to try to stay with him. Has he done a Clapback Thursday recently? I would fg love to see an episode of Clapback Thursday this Thursday from Oscar De La Hoya. Everybody feels it. It’s already happening. It’s going to be a fun year.”
The WBC wasn’t spared either.
“I said what I was going to do. I never said anything bad about the WBC or the IBF or any of them. I just said I’m not going to do business with them. I’m going to do my own thing.”
Then came his sharpest criticism.
“We’re three fights in and people are asking all these questions and this Sulaimán guy is incredible,” White said. “He is incredible. He’s the greatest PR guy for how f*d up boxing is of all time. He’s incredible.”
This is no longer simple promoter banter. It is a contest over structure. Alphabet bodies maintain rankings, mandatory routes, and sanctioned belts. Promoters navigate that system. White is attempting to bypass it and create a closed lane similar to the UFC model.
In boxing, belts hold value when contenders are forced through eliminators and top-contenders face one another in their prime. Without that, titles become branding tools.
White has drawn his line. The next phase will show whether he can build a contender track that produces real fights rather than parallel titles.
