Dana White says Shakur Stevenson’s exit from Zuffa Boxing started with him. At the UFC 333 post-fight press conference, the UFC CEO told reporters he put the release on the table and Stevenson’s camp took it. That ended a partnership that never produced a single fight.
“I offered him his release,” White said. “I offered him the release. Listen I think everybody involved, they’re happy with where we’re at. I have nothing bad to say about him or his team. But I offered them the release and they accepted.”
When asked why he’d cut loose the biggest name on the roster so fast, White kept it blunt. “We never even did one fight with the guy,” he said, per MMA Fighting. “We were in business a couple of months.”
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That’s the part that stings for Zuffa Boxing. Stevenson’s signing was widely considered the biggest addition to the roster since the organization launched. He’s undefeated and regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the sport. As soon as he signed, rumors started about a showdown with Devin Haney. That fight never came together, and no other matchup did either before Stevenson decided to part ways with the promotion. Whatever happens with Haney now, it won’t happen under the Zuffa banner.
There’s also a question of who moved first. An Athlon Sports headline said Stevenson had claimed he was the one who asked to leave, and framed White’s account as a very different story. White didn’t take the bait on any of that at the press conference. He declined to get into the details of what went wrong behind the scenes.
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“Listen, I’m not going to say anything negatively about him or we tried to do this or we tried to do that,” White said. “We got to a position where we both agreed we were cool with the release.”
Sherdog also reported White’s comments, and its headline described the deal as the kind of release UFC fighters seek. That’s a pointed way to frame it, given how rarely the UFC side of the house lets anyone walk early. Neither White nor the reports said where Stevenson goes next.
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My take: the argument over who asked first is mostly about credit, and it matters less than the result. Both sides are describing the same outcome, a clean split with no lawsuit and no public mudslinging. That’s about as tidy as a promotional divorce gets, and it’s a lot tidier than most of the contract fights I’ve watched drag on in MMA. The real cost lands on Zuffa Boxing. Its marquee signing walked out the door before he threw a punch in a Zuffa ring, and the Haney fight that made the signing look so big left with him. White can say he has nothing bad to say about Stevenson, and I believe him. Two months and zero fights doesn’t leave much to complain about.
