Fans react to Dana White’s first Zuffa Boxing show: “Work needs to be done”

Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing debut sparked a series of mixed reactions on social media, with many highlighting the event’s production value and quality of bouts, but others feeling underwhelmed.

The main event, held at Meta Apex, Las Vegas, in the early hours of this morning saw unbeaten super welterweight contender Callum Walsh, now at middleweight, win a unanimous decision win over Carlos Ocampo.

While the fight itself failed to provide a compelling spectacle, this win over Ocampo – an experienced fighter who had only previously lost at world level – nonetheless represents a significant moment for Walsh.

The 24-year-old, who beat Fernando Vargas Jr. in September, briefly reached the sixth round but ultimately produced a solid performance to defeat Ocampo convincingly on the scorecards.

As for the co-main event, Cain Sandoval and Julian Rodriguez engaged in an exciting battle that was not reflected as well by the judges, all of whom had Rodriguez beat by a wide margin.

As for the show overall, many fans seemed to like the competitive bouts that Zuffa Boxing 1 presented, with many expressing their satisfaction with X. However, there was an equal amount of criticism…

As expected, top-notch interior production and smooth operation #Zova_Boxing

One of the most competitive and action-packed boxing cards I’ve seen in a long time

There haven’t been many “amazing” moments yet but those will come if they keep matching fights well

Strong start

— Ian | Sports Design (@iannsports) January 24, 2026

Zuffa Boxing was very good tonight
Expected much worse so there is that
It could be good if they added a little more excitement to the whole fireworks thing.

Hopefully the Cards will get better when they figure everything out.

– Carmine Rose (@CarmineRose_x) January 24, 2026

Zuffa Boxing uses the time between rounds to show ads rather than analyze the action. This shit is garbage

– Black Fabio (@LeFabioNoir) January 24, 2026

This hyssop card is very evenly matched which is appreciated, but there is no atmosphere, no crowd, and everything feels very…common. No style, no flare. No fun.

-Bobby Faison (@bob_faison) January 24, 2026

Zuffa Boxing will fail, even if it achieves a monopoly. TKO’s model is to sell the brand, not the star…Boxing is a star-driven sport. Nobody just cares about “boxing.” That’s all the space I have on Twitter to talk about it.

– Paul Magno (@Boxing_Tribune) January 23, 2026

@Zuffa_Boxing I didn’t see any promotion of the fighters, I didn’t know who was fighting, and the atmosphere seemed terrible. I know it’s only the first time but there’s a lot of work to be done.

– Greg (@Zincroofing) January 24, 2026

What do you think about the way Zuffa makes every fighter wear an almost identical product? Kind of depersonalizes the sport a little bit and makes it look like a commercial. It seems strange, I’ve never seen that in all my years of boxing! Do not wear hyssop, do you not fight over their papers?

-Ray Poplawski (@RPopBox) January 24, 2026

I thought the matchmaking between the prelims was excellent. I had a lot of fun and would love to see Jacob Ramos and Marcus Harris appear again, despite their loss. (Personally I thought Ramos won)

Julian Rodriguez vs. Cain Sandoval was very good. The rest of the main elements…

– Bury Gold (@BuryEmBoxing) January 24, 2026

With this being White’s first Zuffa Boxing event, it was perhaps inevitable that he would have some teething issues on the night. The man himself admitted that he was “not happy” with the move, but continued to promise big things.