Carlos Adames Signs With Zuffa Boxing — and Dana White Now Holds Three of the Four Middleweight Crowns

The middleweight division changed hands on Tuesday — not in a ring, but on a roster. Carlos Adames, the WBC champion at 160 pounds, has signed a multi-fight promotional deal with Zuffa Boxing, the company announced in a release published on the UFC's website and reported by talkSPORT and Uncrowned. Adames arrives with a 25-1-1 record and 18 knockouts, three successful title defences, and — per NY Fights — The Ring's No. 1 ranking in the division. His first words as a Zuffa fighter were a mission statement: “This is a new chapter in my career, and I'm here to make history.”

Adames' road to this moment ran through the old establishment. He won the interim WBC title in October 2022 by stopping Juan Macias Montiel, defended it in June 2023 by knocking out former unified champion Julian Williams in nine rounds, and was elevated to full champion in May 2024 when Jermall Charlo was named champion in recess. Three defences followed: a unanimous decision over Terrell Gausha, a controversial draw with Hamzah Sheeraz in Riyadh in February 2025 that much of the sport scored for Adames, and a one-sided decision over Austin Williams in Orlando this March. All seven of his middleweight fights came under the PBC banner, where he went 6-0-1. That chapter is now closed.

Three Belts, One Roof

The signing is the latest move in Zuffa's deliberate land grab. With Adames (WBC) joining Aaron McKenna (IBF) and Denzel Bentley (WBO) — Bentley signed only a week ago, per talkSPORT — Dana White's promotion now holds three of the four middleweight world champions. The one belt outside the building belongs to WBA champion Erislandy Lara, who has his own appointment pending against Tim Tszyu in Australia. Zuffa's model is becoming clear: collect a division's champions, and the unification fights stop being negotiations between rival promoters and become internal scheduling.

There is, however, a crack in the monopoly, and it is made of sanctioning-body paperwork. Per Uncrowned, the WBO is expected to formally strip Bentley for taking a fight with Shane Mosley Jr on November 7 at Zuffa Boxing 12 rather than facing his mandatory challenger, Yoenli Hernandez. If that lands, Zuffa's three champions become two on paper — though the Mosley Jr fight happening on a Zuffa card tells you exactly how the promotion ranks the priorities: make the fights, and let the alphabet belts argue about it afterwards.

What Happens Next

Adames does not get a soft launch. The WBC has ordered him to defend his title against Meiirim Nursultanov next, and the negotiation window is already running — the camps have until October 20 to reach an agreement before purse bids are called, per Uncrowned. FIGHTMAG reports that details of Adames' first fight under the Zuffa banner are expected shortly. After the Williams win in March, Adames had talked about moving up to super middleweight; the Zuffa deal reframes that ambition, because the biggest fights available to him now — starting with an in-house unification against McKenna — are suddenly the easiest ones to make.

For the US game, this is the story underneath the story: the sport's centre of gravity is being renegotiated in real time, one champion at a time, by a promotion that did not exist in boxing two years ago. Previously is tracking every Zuffa roster move on the boxing desk. Read Adames' full record on his fighter profile, browse the boxers index, and see where his first defence lands on the Fight Hub calendar.