Dana White loved what Chev Clarke did to Chris Billam-Smith at Zuffa Boxing 12. He just didn’t love when the referee decided it was over.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference at London’s Copper Box Arena, White praised Clarke’s seventh-round stoppage of the former world champion in the main event, then admitted he thought the finish came too soon. “I thought it was, yeah. I thought it was,” White said, adding that Harrison Whitman on his team disagreed and believed Billam-Smith was badly hurt. White’s conclusion: “Only CBS can answer that question.”
None of that takes away from Clarke’s night. White said the Englishman “couldn’t have looked any better,” and the win, the biggest of Clarke’s career according to UFC.com’s Simon Head, drops him right into a crowded cruiserweight title picture at Zuffa Boxing. As for Billam-Smith, White said the former champ should take some time away and decide his own next step. “Love the kid. Love him,” he said.
Vanhouter heads for the biggest card of the year
The undefeated American heavyweight Da’Mazion Vanhouter needed only Round 1 to fold Ivan Balaz with a body shot, handing the Czech fighter just the second loss of his career. White was blunt about it. “This kid is an absolute stud,” he said, and repeated his plan to put Vanhouter on the Fury vs Joshua undercard. “So young, handles the pressure well, and yeah, I want to put him on the AJ-Fury card. So I’ve just got to find him an opponent.”
The co-main between middleweights Denzel Bentley and Shane Mosley Jr. took Fight of the Night. Bentley dropped Mosley in Round 2 and came close to finishing him, but Mosley climbed off the canvas, fought his way back into it and took Bentley the distance. “A beautiful one-two [Bentley] dropped him with,” White said, calling Mosley’s recovery “pretty awesome.”
Why Opetaia gets Wilder
White was also asked about the recently announced heavyweight fight between unified cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia and former WBC champion Deontay Wilder, also set for the Fury vs Joshua card. His reasoning was simple: the cruiserweight division is stacked right now, Usyk has been talking about dropping down, and “Jai Opetaia is willing to fight anybody, and fight all the time.” White framed a fight against a name as globally known as Wilder as a huge opportunity for Opetaia.
On the business side, White said Zuffa Boxing has “25 deals in 95 countries right now” and that the promotion is ahead of where he expected it to be at this point in its first year. He said 2027 means more events in more places, beyond the U.S. and U.K. “I think more cards, period,” he said. London stays on the map too, with the promotion working alongside Sky Sports. “And I love it over here in London. So yeah, we’ll be back.”
Here’s my take. When the promoter who just watched his guy win the main event says out loud that the stoppage was early, that’s a rare thing to hear and it deserves weight. It also means Billam-Smith walks away with a loss he didn’t fully get to argue, and a rematch case whenever he decides he wants it. Clarke shouldn’t wait around for that, though. He’s at the front of a stacked cruiserweight line, and Opetaia is the man holding the belts.
