Sports
Fans react to Dana White’s first Zuffa Boxing show: “Work needs to be done”
Dana White’s debut Zuffa Boxing show has generated a series of mixed responses on social media, many of them highlighting the event’s production value and quality of matchups, but others feeling underwhelmed.
The headline act, which took place at the Meta Apex, Las Vegas, in the early hours of this morning, saw unbeaten super-welterweight, now middleweight, contender Callum Walsh claim a unanimous decision victory over Carlos Ocampo.
While the fight itself failed to deliver a compelling spectacle, this win over Ocampo – a seasoned operator who had only previously lost at world-class level – nonetheless represents a significant moment for Walsh.
The 24-year-old, who outpointed Fernando Vargas Jr in September, touched down in the sixth round briefly but ultimately produced a strong performance to convincingly defeat Ocampo on the scorecards.
As for the co-main event, Cain Sandoval and Julian Rodriguez engaged in an absorbing battle which was not reflected as such by the judges, who all had Rodriguez winning by a considerably wide margin.
For the show overall, many fans seemed to be impressed with Zuffa Boxing 1’s competitive matchups, with several of them expressing their satisfaction on X. However, there was an equal amount of criticism…
As expected, top-class in-house production and smooth pacing from #Zuffa_Boxing
One of the most competitive, action-packed boxing cards I’ve watched in a long time
It didn’t have many ‘wow’ moments yet but those will come if they keep matching fights this well
A strong start
— IANN | Sports Design (@iannsports) January 24, 2026
Zuffa Boxing was pretty decent tonight
Expected a lot worse so there is that
Could be good if they added alil more excitement to it all ring walks fireworks something.Hopefully cards get better as they figure it all out.
— Carmine Rose’ (@CarmineRose_x) January 24, 2026
Zuffa Boxing uses the time between rounds to run ads instead of analyzing the action. This shit is garbage
— Black Fabio (@LeFabioNoir) January 24, 2026
This zuffa card is very evenly matched which is appreciated, but there’s no atmosphere, no crowd, and everything feels very…corporate. No style, no flare. No fun.
— Bobby Faison (@bob_faison) January 24, 2026
Zuffa Boxing will fail, even if they achieve a monopoly. TKO ‘s model is to sell the brand, not the star…Boxing is a star-driven sport. Nobody’s tuning in solely for “Boxing.” That’s all the space I’m given on Twitter to talk about it.
— Paul Magno (@Boxing_Tribune) January 23, 2026
@Zuffa_Boxing did not see any promotion for the fighters didn’t know who was fighting and the atmosphere looked terrible. I know it’s only the first one but a lot of work needs to be done.
— Greg (@Zincroofing) January 24, 2026
What do you think of how Zuffa had every fighter wear their almost identical product? Kind of de-personalized the sport a bit & made it seem like a commercial. Just seems odd, never saw that In all my years of boxing! Don’t wear Zuffa you don’t fight on their cards?
— Ray Poplawski (@RPopBox) January 24, 2026
I thought the matchmaking for the prelims was excellent. I was highly entertained and would love to see Jaycob Ramos and Marcus Harris featured again, despite their losses. (Personally, I thought Ramos won)
Julian Rodriguez vs Cain Sandoval was very good. The rest of the main…
— BuriedinGold (@BuryEmBoxing) January 24, 2026
With this being White’s first Zuffa Boxing event, it was perhaps only inevitable that he would encounter a few teething problems on the night. The man himself admitted he ‘was not thrilled’ with the action, but continues to promise big things.
