The Zuffa Boxing era on Paramount+ will kick off in Las Vegas on Jan. 23, when undefeated Irish junior middleweight prospect Callum Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) faces Carlos Ocampo (38-3, 26 KOs) in the main event at the UFC Apex.
Zuffa executive and UFC CEO Dana White made the announcement while on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on Friday. The event will occur the day before UFC 324, which will be headlined by Justin Gaethje taking on Paddy Pimblett for the interim UFC lightweight title at T-Mobile Arena.
Walsh, 24, has been lauded by White for several years, with many of Walsh’s fights featured on UFC Fight Pass. He was last in action in the co-main event of Terence Crawford’s win over Canelo Alvarez in September, when Walsh won a narrow unanimous decision over Fernando Vargas Jr. Walsh will get the opportunity to headline Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural boxing event and set the tone for what the promotion has to offer.
Ocampo, 30, has won three consecutive fights since being stopped in the first round by Tim Tszyu in June 2023. Ocampo’s other two losses were to current unified junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora and former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
“When I talk about matchmaking, I’m going to have all these up-and-coming guys,” White said. “We have this kid named Ocampo, who is a seasoned veteran. His only losses are in title fights — three title fight losses. He has more knockouts than Callum has fights. Callum, undefeated, 15-0, and it’s the main event. Should be a badass boxing event.”
White has touted Zuffa’s entry into boxing and suggests that Zuffa Boxing will be a game changer for the sport that will offer quality matchmaking and debut a promotion with its own world titles and ranking system.
“I’ve been talking smack about boxing for a long time, and now it’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is,” White said. “I’m going to get rid of the sanctioning organizations. The best will fight the best. We’re going to sign all the young, up-and-coming guys.
“If you break into the top 10, and you’re still undefeated, your undefeated record means something. You know what I mean? Everybody’s undefeated in boxing because nobody fights anybody, right? Everybody will fight everybody.”
