Dana White responded to talk of Ilia Topuria wanting to box Terence Crawford.
While White has boxing plans of his own that are set to unfold in the near future, this weekend marks the start of his big move into the sport.
Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford are set to meet this Saturday night in one of the biggest fights in recent years.
With the UFC president now being a major player in both boxing and MMA, this opens up conversations about whether we could see some kind of crossover between the two.
Clearly, one UFC star is particularly interested in this possibility, with Ilia Topuria calling out Crawford during fight week in Las Vegas.
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Dana White shuts down the idea of Ilia Topuria vs Terence Crawford in boxing
When Terence Crawford was asked about Ilia Topuria’s callout, he dismissed the UFC lightweight champion who claimed that he would finish ‘Bud’ if they met inside the ring.
Topuria responded to Crawford’s comments by claiming that there is a lack of respect between boxers and mixed martial artists.
Of course, there is a previous example to look at when speaking about a potential crossover between the two sports that Dana White was pivotal in.
Conor McGregor faced Floyd Mayweather in a huge event in 2017 that made a massive impact on the combat sports world.
When White was asked about the possibility of seeing Topuria and Crawford share the ring with one another, he made his stance on this fight very clear with a short and sweet statement.
“I certainly hope not.”
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Ilia Topuria recently provided a disappointing update on his first UFC title defense
While a crossover fight between Ilia Topuria and Terence Crawford would be huge, there are a lot of MMA fans that would push back against this.
The undefeated UFC lightweight champion is one of the top fighters and stars in the sport right now so people want to see him continue competing inside the Octagon.
Unfortunately, Topuria’s latest update suggests that at this time, we don’t know when his first title defense will take place and who he will face.
“Well, I have no idea at all (when I will defend my title),” Topuria said at a recent WOW press conference. “The truth is, we are in (negotiations). We are in the middle of negotiating everything, adjusting the schedule for the remaining part of the year or next year, so I can’t give you a specific answer.”
When he was asked whether there’s any update on his opponent, he simply stated that he “doesn’t have anyone” as of yet.