Opetaia vs Glanton: Dana White Crowns First Boxing Champion. Is Fight Worthy?
By Chris Carlson
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 08 Mar 2026
When Jai Opetaia and Brandon Glanton step into the ring on Sunday, it will be Zuffa Boxing’s first ever title fight. Considering all the rhetoric about the ridiculousness of the sanctioning bodies and the best versus best talk by Dana White, the promotional company sure chose a strange bout to crown their first champion. This is in no way a shot at either boxer; it’s just contradictory.
In fact, it’s very much like the alphabet belts nonsense we deal with in the boxing world to make #1 ranked lineal versus the 10th ranked boxer for a vacant championship. It’s fair to ask why not just wait to establish a more legit matchup, for example the winner of David Benavidez and Zurdo Ramirez? Or Chris Billiam-Smith. For all that tough talk to make this bout for a title is no better than the run of the mill stuff we get from the powers that be who control far too many belts. Instead of a possible new UBO model, it appears Zuffa is closer to the IBO, adding yet another chemical to the swamp that is boxing.
On to the opponent who will be standing across from the champion. It could be argued that Brandon Glanton is the best foe Opetaia has faced in a while. Glanton ran his record to 13-0 before getting a split decision over unbeaten at the time, Efetobor Apochi. Since then, Brandon has a record of 7-3 over ten bouts, losing to Chris Billiam-Smith, and by majority and split decisions to Soslan Asbarov and David Light. Last fall Brandon beat Marcus Browne on ProBoxTV.
Jai Opetaia was active in 2025 fighting 3 times. Jai fought twice in 2024, one being a rematch with Mairis Briedis. In their first meeting back in 2022, Opetaia started stronger, winning the first half of the fight. To his credit, the way Briedis performed in the back half was good enough to eventually earn him a 2nd chance. Beyond the last few rounds, Opetaia won much cleaner the second time around. Also of note, it will be interesting to see what the Ring rankings committee will do given the fact in the near future it will have been two years without Opetaia fighting a Top 5 caliber fighter. Normally, that’s a reason to strip. Let’s see if this new relationship between Ring/Turki and Zuffa/Dana has any effect.
Brandon Glanton is a solid boxer who will win rounds but is slated as a wide underdog heading into Sunday’s main event. Money line wise Brandon sits anywhere from +630 all the way up to +1100. No need mess around if you're betting on Glanton just go straight up instead of being picky. The best bets for Opetaia are +133 by decision and –191 by KO. Jai has a habit of playing with his food at times or looking to land the knockout punch instead of winning rounds. Meaning we could get plenty of two-action in the first half of this fight. Look for Opetaia to overwhelm Glanton with flush punches.
My Official Prediction is Jai Opetaia by Decision.
PODCAST LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rope-a-dope-radio-podcast/id1794655742?i=1000753497414
Side Note: On the Zuffa undercard, Vlad Panin vs. Shinard Bunch and Ethan Perez vs. Jaycob Ramos are 50-50 on paper.
Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, I-Heart Radio, The Grueling Truth Sports Network, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts & More! Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Chris Carlson.
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