Last Updated on February 10, 2026 by Pragjyoti Singh
After successfully concluding the second Zuffa boxing card, Dana White said his plans would rock the boxing industry. A few days later, TKO Group Holding president Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro confirmed the new boxing venture could eventually reach a $5–$10 billion valuation.
Although it sounds promising, Zuffa Boxing has faced questions, especially about fighter pay. Dana White, long criticized for UFC pay, recently increased bonuses at UFC 324, headlined by Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett.
Roy Jones Jr. says Zuffa Boxing is not good for boxing
Since the idea of Zuffa Boxing was floated, the promotion has been under scrutiny from legends like Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones Jr. Speaking on fighter pay, Jones Jr. said:
“Your guys in the UFC make more money in boxing in one night than they make their whole career in the UFC. That’s a problem! Balance the problem out. Balance the problem in your sport and make my sport better! But don’t go and take my sport and do the same you do with your sport.”
He also doubled down earlier during the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford promotional run with Dana White and Turki Alalshikh, stating:
“So it’s very bad for the sport of boxing,” Jones Jr. exclaimed. “Because they’re trying to turn boxing kind of into MMA, and that’s not good.
The Boxing legend’s concerns was also shared by another former boxer in Oscar De La Hoya who also criticized the venture after its first Meta Apex event, saying:
“They told us boxing is broken and they were coming to change it and fix it, but all they did was copy and paste what we have been doing for 100-plus years.”
How much does Zuffa Boxing pay their fighters?
As per online reports, unranked fighters on a Zuffa Boxing card reportedly earn between $10,000 and $20,000, while top contenders may receive up to $375,000, and champions around $750,000. Underwhelmingly, the numbers for lower level undercard fighters have also been reported to be in the $1,000 to $8,000 range. Dana White and the top brass at Zuffa Boxing, very similar to the UFC, have also included a bonus model with winners earning $50,000 and “Performance of the Night” winners earning $100,000.
Dana White reveals his Boxing plans
Dana White did confirm that Zuffa Boxing had a lot of work to do during the press conference held after the first card back in January. Despite feeling that the promotion needs three to four more events to get in stride, the UFC CEO was also confident that they would be able to achieve the success that the UFC achieved in comparatively lesser time.
“I have a whole list of stuff that we’ll go through on Monday, me and the team. But it took 25 years to get the UFC to where it is today. It’s a very well-oiled machine, and we’ll do it in much less time on the boxing side.” White had said.
More recently, after the promotion’s 2nd card, the 56-year-old also revealed the addition of more shows with additional fights being added to the original schedule.
“We’re going to be adding more shows…We’ll be doing more fights than we originally announced. And like I said, as we start to roll out over the next couple of weeks what we have going on, it’s going to rock the industry, let’s just put it that way.”
Zuffa Boxing recently concluded its 2nd card on 1st February and will be followed by Zuffa 03: Ajagba vs. Martin on Feb 15, 2026 with all events currently slated for the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
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