Speculation has been rife recently that the world of boxing will have to welcome Dana White into the promotional picture in the boxing scene. Veteran promoter, Dana White however is not worried in the slightest at his arrival.
Arum suggested he does not feel threatened by the UFC mogul’s plans and furthermore, believes that the UFC is currently seriously dwindling as a major brand.
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“No, I think he needs boxing desperately because people are just waking up to the fact – which we knew – that the UFC is on the balls of its ass,” stated Arum to BoxingScene.com.
“They did an unbelievable job building the product, the Fertitta’s sold it for billions of dollars and now the buyers are left with something that’s flawed,” the promoter expanded.
Arum added that a lack of marquee attractions within the sport has caused the brand to struggle especially when noting the career trajectory of the most lucrative stars in Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor seemingly manoeuvring their future plans away from the octagon.
“You can’t really perform the way you did before when you don’t have any marquee stars. They don’t have any marquee stars.”
“The ones who can be [stars], who are out there like McGregor, like Georges St. Pierre. They now have woken up and they ain’t going to fight for peanuts relative to the money involved.”
“MMA, except maybe with Brazil – which has its own problems – isn’t popular around the world. In the United States and the houses where they packed the places.”
“They’re half-empty now and the pay-per-view numbers are in the toilet.”
Lastly, Arum drew a comparison to the numbers when the UFC fight night went up against the Lomachenko – Rigondeaux card on December 9th.
“The numbers when they program against us, them on FOX, we on ESPN – we beat the crap out of them,” Arum concluded.
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