David Benavidez sailed to a unanimous decision victory with extreme ease against Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Las Vegas this past weekend. Even though it was his world title debut in the 175-pound division, the ‘Mexican Monster’ looked pretty comfortable as he took home the WBC interim light heavyweight title. If not anyone else, this seems to have impressed UFC president Dana White!

It’s quite well known that Benavidez has been training in the sport from a very young age alongside his father and brother, and has sparred with multiple big names. What many may not know is that at one time Dana White was very much involved with boxing and its promotion before going on to buy the UFC with the help of Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta in 2001. But his meeting with David Benavidez when a young Benavidez was 13 and struggling with his weight, had remained under wraps until now! 

Dana White reveals a champion’s dream

Earlier today, Michael Benson, talkSPORT’s Online Boxing Editor, shared Dana White’s Instagram story on X. The post from White’s Instagram account showed a throwback photo of a young David Benavidez, then 13 years old, meeting White. Though a bit chubbier back then, Benavidez’s determined spirit and big dreams were already evident. Captioning his story, White wrote, “I met @Benavidez300 when he was 13 and he told me he would be a world champion”.

This, of course, would come true when Benavidez defeated Ronald Gavril in September 2017 to win the vacant WBC super middleweight title becoming the youngest ever super middleweight in history to hold the title at just 20 years of age. Since then, Benavidez has earned yet another title in a different weight class, fulfilling his promise to White. So, the UFC head stated in his Instagram story, “Love this kind of s**t”, praising the Phoenix, Arizona native.

However, now that David Benavidez has made his successful debut in the light heavyweight division—what’s next for him?

Is David Benavidez aiming for undisputed?

Even though David Benavidez is currently at light heavyweight, the fight he really craves is against Canelo Alvarez, but alas, that may not happen anytime soon! In the meantime, a shot at the undisputed light heavyweight status is entirely possible. All the major titles at 175 lbs are currently held by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

They are bound to fight sometime in October this year after their fight was canceled in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. When the fight does happen, the light heavyweight division will have its first undisputed champion since Roy Jones Jr. and Benavidez can aim for a fight against the winner, all while building his resume in the division.

Having said that, David Benavidez is adamant about achieving all there is to achieve in the sport. And Dana White seems proud of the 13-year-old he met years ago as a result of that. What do you think about the decade-old picture? Do you think Benavidez could achieve undisputed status?