Berlanga vs. Butler Headlines Zuffa Boxing 09 at MSG
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- Zuffa Boxing stages its New York City debut with card 09 at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, with prelims at 5 p.m. ET and the main card at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount+.
- Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) faces Canadian puncher Steven Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight main event, with Berlanga installed as a -370 favorite at DraftKings.
- Berlanga enters looking to rebound from a fifth-round knockout loss to Hamzah Sheeraz one year ago, after previously going the 12-round distance in a 2024 pay-per-view loss to Canelo Alvarez.
- Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) vacates his IBF junior welterweight title after signing with Zuffa in April and moves up to welterweight to face Ricardo Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs), with Hitchins a heavy -800 favorite.
- Butler told UFC.com that taking the fight with Berlanga a year out of the ring was 'a bad decision from his team,' igniting a heated Thursday face-off that required the two fighters to be separated.
- Predictions from CBS Sports: Berlanga via TKO8 and Hitchins via UD10, with the undercard featuring Otto Wallin (-225) vs. Vladyslav Sirenko at heavyweight and Jalil Hackett (-185) vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko at middleweight.
Why it matters: Zuffa Boxing, just six months into existence, puts its biggest star-making test on the line with a stacked MSG card. For Berlanga, the fight is a must-win to stay relevant in the 168-pound title picture after consecutive losses. For Hitchins, the welterweight debut tests whether his skills translate up in weight or expose him to bigger punchers.
