Dana White begins hosting her first Paramount event, says Ilia Topuria is a ‘possibility’

UFC CEO Dana White has promised to launch the new promotional deal with Paramount in a big way. White now says the first card of the new deal, which begins in January, could be signed by lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.

Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s episode of Dana White’s Contender Series, White said the matchmaking process for the Paramount debut began “literally today.”

“Matchmaking happened today and we started working on the first Paramount card today,” White continued.

Many of the biggest potential stars the UFC could sign, such as Jon Jones and Conor McGregor, have focused their pitches for their next fight on the UFC card scheduled at the White House in June. Not that a fighter couldn’t fight both in his debut at Paramount and again nearly six months later in the White House, but Jones and McGregor are unique stars whose schedules haven’t worked the same way as “normal” fighters for many years. Not to mention, McGregor hasn’t fought since 2021 and is serving a suspension for violating the UFC’s anti-doping policy that doesn’t end until March, taking him off the table completely.

Topuria (17-0) is an available star and not currently scheduled for a fight.

Topuria has taken his opponents by storm, winning the featherweight championship with a knockout over Alexander Volkanovski in February 2024 and defending the belt the following October by knocking out Max Holloway. Seeking further glory, Topuria vacated his title to move up to lightweight, where he scored his third consecutive knockout in a title fight, defeating Charles Oliveira to win the vacant championship at 155 pounds.

Asked about the idea of ​​Topuria headlining Paramount’s debut, White said, “It’s a possibility.”

White also spoke about the end of the endorsement deal with ESPN, promising to continue providing the best product possible as the deal plays out in its final months.

“We’re always going to try to put the best cards we can,” White said. “We’ve had a great relationship with ESPN, and we were talking about it earlier, everyone’s already starting to feel it. There’s a lot of relationship between the ESPN team that’s doing all the fights and work and the UFC team, and everyone’s starting to feel it coming to the end here. They’ve been great to us, and they’ve been great to the sport. We want to put one last badass card on them.”