What to Know
- Zuffa Boxing 08 gets an early start on Paramount+ with prelims at 3 p.m. ET/12 noon PT, and main card taking place at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.
- The main event features a rematch between lightweights Edwin De Los Santos and Jose Valenzuela.
- Several newly signed Zuffa Boxing athletes make their debuts including Brandun Lee.
The boxing weekend isn’t over quite yet. Zuffa Boxing 08 moves outside the confines of the Apex to The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas with a card featuring a rematch in the main event, and a sneaky good co-main event.
The card gets an early start on Paramount+ with prelims at 3 p.m. ET/12 noon PT, and the three fight main card taking place at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.
High Stakes Rematch: De Los Santos vs Valenzuela
Edwin De Los Santos of the Dominican Republic (17-2, 15 KOs) and Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela of Renton, Washington (15-3, 9 KOs) run back their 2022 fight. Both men hit the canvas before De Los Santos stopped Valenzuela in the third round. De Los Santos took the fight on a single day’s notice to score the significant upset victory.
The win vaulted De Los Santos into a lightweight title fight against Shakur Stevenson, a mind-numbing bout notable for setting a record for the fewest punches thrown in a title fight.
De Los Santos has won both his fights since then. He plans to prove his first win over Valenzuela wasn’t just a bad night for his opponent.
Valenzuela was a highly touted prospect when he suffered his first loss to De Los Santos. He’s had two more losses since then to Gary Antuanne Russell and Chris Colbert, though he beat Colbert in an immediate rematch. He restored his reputation with an excellent win over Issac “Pitbull” Cruz. In his Zuffa debut, Valenzuela won a near shutout decision over Diego Torres. Valenzuela sees his signing with Zuffa as a fresh start.
In the co-main event, undefeated Omar Trinidad of Los Angeles (20-0-2, 14 KOs) takes on former super flyweight world champion Jerwin Ancajas of the Philippines (38-4-2, 25 KOs) in a fight at featherweight.
Trinidad won his Zuffa debut with a 10th-round knockout of Max Ornelas. Ancajas signed with Zuffa Boxing and made the move up to featherweight. “Pretty Boy” plans on making an impact with a win in his new weight class.
Cain Sandoval Returns Against Brandun Lee
The opening fight on the main card is flying under the radar, and it shouldn’t. “Sugar” Cain Sandoval of Sacramento (17-1, 10 KOs) lost his Zuffa debut to the surprising Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez. The 23-year-old Sandoval isn’t getting an easy touch in his return.
Brandun Lee of Irvine, California (30-0, 23 KOs) is a new Zuffa signing. The 2021 Prospect of the Year eased back on his schedule, fighting just once each of the last two years to earn his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, a promise he made to his mother.
Now Lee has rededicated himself to boxing by signing with Zuffa and working with trainer Robert Garcia.
“I decided to join Zuffa because, I mean, who else is doing it like Zuffa right now? There’s really nobody,” said Lee. “Zuffa is having two to three fights a month to find the best of the best, and that’s what we want. So far, it’s great. I love it.”
Lee should have been actively seeking title fights, but he admits his lack of activity has been a hindrance. He hopes a win over Sandoval will kickstart his ambitions, saying he’d like to take on his Zuffa rivals Conor Benn and Richardson Hitchens among the welterweights in the Zuffa stable.
Zuffa Boxing 08 Undercard Fights: Prospects and Underdogs Line Up
Floyd “Cash Flow” Diaz of Las Vegas native (14-0, 3 KOs) will feel right at home Sunday in his second Zuffa fight, vowing to stay active. He will face Andres Teran of Mexico (18-2, 13 KOs), a new Zuffa signing at bantamweight. The 26-year-old Teran is on a 10-fight winning streak.
Lightweights Tony Hirsch Jr. and Jaybrio Pe Benito both scored surprising wins in their Zuffa debuts. Now they will go after each other. Hirsch of Oakland (8-0-2, 4 KOs) stopped highly regarded and undefeated Robert Meriwether III at Zuffa Boxing 05 as an +810 underdog.
Pe Benito, a native of Hawaii fighting out of Hollywood, California (7-0, 5 KOs), also claimed an upset win as a +520 underdog over Abel Mejia by third-round knockout at Zuffa Boxing 03.
Welterweight Damoni Cato-Cain of Oakland (9-1-2, 7 KOs) makes his second Zuffa Boxing appearance as he returns against Vernon “Sub Zero” Brown of Chicago (14-2-1, 10 KOs) at welterweight.
Cato-Cain handed Christian Morales his first loss by unanimous decision at Zuffa Boxing 02. Brown, a 37-year-old southpaw who hadn’t fought in three years, won a surprising knockout upset in June over power-punching Armenian Gor Yeritsvan, who had never been stopped as a pro. It’s been a shot of adrenaline for Brown, who will see what he can accomplish in the Zuffa stable.
Undefeated prospects Brady Ochoa (9-0-1, 2 KOs) and Adrian Serrano (6-0-2, 3 KOs) fought to a majority draw at Zuffa Boxing 04. They will attempt to settle things in their six-round lightweight rematch,
Heavyweights open the card, with Jakhongir Zokirov of Uzbekistan facing prospect Zach Spiller of Houston (5-0, 4 KOs). The 23-year-old Zokirov has one fight on his record from 2023, a fourth-round TKO win. He is now based at Brickhouse Boxing in Hollywood. Spiller is also coming off a two-year layoff.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.