Dana White isn’t handing Sean Strickland a boxing license. Asked Friday night whether the former UFC middleweight champion could get a crack at Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia, White waved it off and instead floated a far bigger name for Opetaia: Deontay Wilder.
The exchange happened during the Power Slap event, where White sat in on Nina Drama’s Kick stream. Drama brought up Strickland’s interest in Opetaia, and White, per a clip posted to X by Jed I. Goodman, said there was a good chance Opetaia fights Wilder instead.
White gave Strickland a little credit before shutting it down. He said he “doesn’t think it ever goes good crossing over to boxing from MMA,” then conceded that “Strickland is a tough guy who has hands”. Drama pressed him on whether that meant the door was open. According to Bloody Elbow, White dismissed the idea entirely.
None of this is new territory for White. Outside of 2017, when he helped promote Conor McGregor’s boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather, he has been consistently against UFC fighters jumping to the ring.
Where Strickland’s head is at
The callout grew out of a money fight with his own promotion. Strickland has been in an ongoing contractual dispute with the UFC over pay, and Bloody Elbow reported he has claimed he was strong-armed into a new UFC deal as fresh contract talks unfold. His answer, apparently, is that he’d rather box. He said he’d happily come over to Zuffa Boxing and fight its cruiserweight champion, and an MMA Sucka headline had him claiming he’d beat Opetaia “easily.” Zamin.uz framed it as Strickland sharply criticizing the UFC and announcing a transition to boxing.
There’s an obvious wrinkle there. Zuffa Boxing and the UFC answer to the same boss, so pitching yourself to the boxing side while feuding with the MMA side means asking the same guy for a different paycheck.
Opetaia’s bigger plans
White expects Opetaia to finally make his long-anticipated move up to heavyweight. The target is Wilder, the hard-hitting former heavyweight world champion, possibly on the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua undercard in December. Wilder’s manager confirmed interest in the fight earlier on Friday, so this one has at least two parties nodding along, which is more than Strickland’s version has.
My take: White is right on the business and a little too cute on the reasoning. Strickland does have hands, he does answer questions straight, and a pissed-off fighter willing to take any fight is usually the guy I want to watch. But a cruiserweight champion stepping up to face Wilder on a Fury vs. Joshua card in December is a heavyweight fight with real stakes, and Strickland’s crossover idea is a negotiating tactic wearing boxing gloves. The UFC contract talks are where Strickland’s next fight actually gets decided.
