“I’m making my Zuffa debut on March 8 here within the APEX,” Opetaia said throughout the post-fight show with Molly Qerim and Mike Coppinger.
For Dana White, this bout carries more weight than anything that happened on the launch card. That first show leaned on developing fighters and left the sense that the roster was thin at the highest. The printed looked major. The boxing didn’t. Opetaia is supposed to correct that imbalance.
He arrives as an entire fighter. He isn’t learning on the job. He’s already a champion who has handled elite opponents, difficult negotiations, and long nights. That matters for a brand new promotion attempting to construct trust with serious fans.
Opetaia is 29-0 with 23 knockouts. He’s currently the one reigning world champion signed to Zuffa Boxing. That fact alone puts pressure on his debut. He isn’t just defending titles. He’s setting an early competitive bar for the league.
His position within the cruiserweight division was earned. In July 2022, Opetaia outpointed Mairis Briedis in Australia to assert the lineal and RING championships. It was a tough fight against a proven champion, not a vacant belt situation. One defense followed before business complications intervened.
In late 2023, Opetaia was stripped of the IBF title following a December bout that fell outside the IBF’s required path.
The difficulty was administrative, not competitive. The ring eventually settled it. Opetaia and Briedis met again in May 2024 in Riyadh, and Opetaia won one other clear twelve-round decision.
Those two fights remain the one times Opetaia has gone the gap in eight championship bouts. Since then, his control has tightened. He has stopped his last 4 opponents, including an eighth-round knockout of unbeaten mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara last December in Broadbeach.
That stretch coincided with a profession shift. Opetaia entered 2024 as a free agent, still tied to Tasman Fighters but and not using a global promotional home. Zuffa hurried and signed him to a deal that permits appearances on each Zuffa cards and Riyadh Season events. That flexibility is very important. It keeps him lively while preserving access to unification fights.
“I believe Zuffa is gonna be a brand new chapter,” Opetaia said. “They’re here whether people prefer it or not. I need to develop into Zuffa’s first undisputed champion.”
The goal suits his position. Cruiserweight unification is realistic if the fights are made. The query isn’t his ambition. It’s how Zuffa supports it. A brand new league doesn’t earn credibility through slogans. It earns it by matching champions appropriately and consistently.
Opetaia also understands the environment he has entered. During a recent trip to Las Vegas, he frolicked around White and the Zuffa operation and got here away impressed.
“Being on this environment has made me respect Dana White much more,” Opetaia said.
March 8 is an easy test. Zuffa Boxing needs a champion who looks like a champion on its stage. Opetaia has already proven he can do this elsewhere. If he delivers again, it helps regular a league that needs competitive substance fast. If he doesn’t, the early doubts grow louder.
It’s a position he has held before, and one he appears comfortable carrying right into a latest setting.