Boxing

Dana White Breaks Silence On Terence Crawford's Title Stripping With Scathing Message

UFC President Dana White didn't mince words about the WBC stripping Terence Crawford's belt.
Grant Young|
IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Perhaps the biggest story to come out of the boxing world this week was that the WBC decided to strip Terence Crawford of his super middleweight belt, which he won by beating Canelo Alvarez back in September, because Crawford refused to pay the WBC sanctioning fees for his previous two bouts.

This means that Crawford is no longer the undisputed super middleweight champion. This prompted a rant from Crawford that was posted on his Instagram account on December 4, where he said, "You, the WBC, you got the green belt, which doesn't mean s***. The real belt is the Ring belt, which is free. You want me to pay you more than the other sanctioning bodies because you feel like you're better than them?... You can take the f****** belt. It's a trophy anyway."

Many feel like one reason why Crawford neglected his WBC sanctioning fee is because of his connection with TKO boxing, which isn't going to force their fighters to pay sanctioning fees that all of the current sanctioning bodies require their champions to pay for the belts.

While Crawford technically isn't signed with TKO's Zuffa Boxing venture (which is headed by Turki Alalshikh and UFC President Dana White), his fight against Canelo was promoted by Zuffa Boxing.

Terence Crawford on September 9, 2025.
Terence Crawford on September 9, 2025. | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Dana White Sends Clear Message About Terence Crawford WBC Belt Strip Decision

Dana White spoke with the media after UFC 323 on December 6 and was asked about Crawford getting stripped of the WBC belt.

"I love that all these guys, all these boxing guys, love the Ali Act the way it is now. I wanna see how many of them actually stay there, and do that version of the Ali Act, instead of the add-on that we're gonna do," White said.

"You don't have to be a f****** rocket scientist to see what's going on with all of these guys. All these guys that are crying the loudest are the f****** problems. They're the problem, every one of these guys," per an X post from Red Corner MMA.

"Nobody told Crawford to say anything. Crawford is his own man, doing his own thing. And that's how he feels. And we'll see how this thing plays out in the next couple of years," White added.

"Here's the thing that's great for fighters is that they have options. All these promoters are saying, 'The Ali Act is perfect, and this is what it should be.' I want to see them all stay in it. I want every one of them to stay in the Ali Act as it is now for the next however many years. I f****** guarantee you they won't."

White has never been a man to mince words, and this is just another clear example of that.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.