Dana White is trying to build Jai Opetaia vs. Deontay Wilder. Bad Left Hook reported Monday that the UFC CEO is looking to put the matchup together, and White didn’t pretend it was a safe booking. “It’s a very dangerous fight for him,” he said, according to the outlet’s headline.
The report leaves a lot unsaid. It doesn’t make clear which of the two fighters White meant. It also gives no date, no venue and no weight class. Treat this as a plan White is chasing. Nobody has signed anything yet.
What makes it interesting is when it surfaced. On Oct. 9, Sean Strickland posted an Instagram video saying he wanted to leave MMA for boxing, and he went straight at Opetaia. Strickland said he’d go to Zuffa Boxing and beat its cruiserweight champion, and that it would be easy. Bloody Elbow has since run a headline saying White dismissed that callout and floated a massive name as the boxer’s potential next fight. That headline doesn’t name anyone. Still, three days after Strickland’s challenge, the name in White’s mouth is Wilder, and I can’t ignore the timing.
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Strickland’s pay fight
Strickland, 35, holds the UFC middleweight title. Bloody Elbow reports he wants more money before he’ll defend it against Nassourdine Imavov, and that he’s weighing a few exits: vacating the belt, moving up to light heavyweight, fighting out his contract, or crossing over to boxing. In the video he laid out his résumé, pointing out that he’s fought for the title four times and won it twice. He also said Jake Paul wants to hand him a big payday to fight, but that he’s under contract.
He also had a backup plan in case the UFC won’t play along, and fans won’t love it. Strickland said he’d stick and move, that the crowd would boo, and that he’d boo right along with them while he did it.
The pay talk reached other locker rooms over the weekend. Brendan Allen submitted Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC Vegas 122 on Saturday for his fourth straight win. At the post-fight press conference he backed Strickland, saying “we are underpaid.” A few sentences later he walked it back with an apology aimed at Hunter Campbell: “I didn’t mean nothing by it, Hunter [Campbell]. I apologize.”
Wilder’s name keeps coming up
White isn’t the only promoter-type with Wilder on his mind. Jake Paul posted a wish list on X under the line “Before I rest…” that included Wilder, Strickland, Darren Till, Francis Ngannou and Tom Aspinall (boxing). Till answered quickly: “Stop talking shite I would flat line you inside of 5.” So Wilder is a target for several people right now, and White seems to want him first.
My take: if White can actually get this made, I’d take it over Strickland vs. Opetaia without blinking. Strickland told us exactly how he’d fight a boxing bout he isn’t excited about. He said he’d stick and move, collect his check and leave, and he expects to be booed while he does it. When White calls a fight very dangerous before it’s even booked, he’s talking about the kind of fight I want to watch.
