Jai Opetaia’s fight with Brandon Glanton is still moving forward, but veteran reporter Dan Rafael says the issue that took the IBF title out of the fight centered on how the belt was presented during fight week. Rafael reported that Daryl Peoples, president of the IBF, believed that the organization’s title was shown as secondary to the Zuffa belt during the last press conference.
That explanation places the dispute on presentation rather than the match itself. Rafael wrote that Peoples objected to the way the belts were placed at the presser, where the Zuffa belt was positioned for cameras while Opetaia held the IBF title instead of raising it to the audience in the usual manner.
“The IBF withdrew sanction and sent supervisor home to printer because Daryl Peoples, president of IBF, felt disrespected by how the belt was positioned as secondary to the Zuffa belt,” Rafael wrote on social media.
Images from fight week reflect the arrangement Rafael described. At the final press conference on Friday, the Zuffa belt was centered for photos as Opetaia held the red IBF title at his side. Saturday’s weigh-in produced a similar picture. The Zuffa belt was raised above the fighters during the decamping while Opetaia still had the IBF championship draped over his chest. That sequence seems to have irked the sanctioning body.
Rafael also reported another unusual detail related to the battle. Even after the IBF lifted sanctions, Opetaia and Glanton were still expected to follow the IBF’s fight-morning weigh-in rule. Rafael said no fighter could weigh more than ten pounds over the 200 cruiserweight limit.
Rafael later noted that the IBF belt was still featured in promotion for the event. Opetaia held the title at media events and discussed it publicly, and Zuffa graphics included the championship. Rafael’s version indicates that the dispute centered on how the belt appeared in relation to the Zuffa title during the press events.
Opetaia entered the fight week as the IBF cruiserweight champion after reclaiming the belt in his rematch over Mairis Briedis in 2024. The Australian still holds the physical belt in promotion for the Glanton fight. Once he steps into the ring for an unsanctioned bout, the IBF Championship will no longer move forward with him.
The fight remains on the schedule, and Rafael’s reporting indicates that the rift grew out of band politics and presentation during the public events. The episode shows how closely sanctioning bodies guard the status of their championships when new promoters introduce rival titles.
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Last updated on 2026/03/07 at 15:51
