Zuffa Boxing 08 opened on June 28 at The Chelsea in Las Vegas with Edwin De Los Santos and Jose Valenzuela meeting again in the main event, a rematch that gave the return card its clearest hook from the first bell. The show streamed live on Paramount+ in the United States, putting the headliner in front of a wider audience than the arena alone.
That made the timing matter. The prelims began at 5pm ET/2pm PT on Sunday, June 28, before the main card started at 8pm ET/5pm PT, with the night built around the idea that De Los Santos was chasing a second victory over Valenzuela. The setup was simple enough to follow: one fighter trying to settle a rematch, the other trying to turn the story around in front of a live national audience.
The undercard gave the event more than one result to track. Omar Trinidad claimed the most significant victory of his career to date when he beat Jerwin Ancajas by unanimous decision, with all three cards reading 97-93. Trinidad moved to 21-0-2 after the win, while Ancajas made his Zuffa Boxing featherweight debut. Tony Weeks handled the closing stages of that fight, a small but notable detail in a bout that stayed close enough to keep the scorecards relevant.
Cain Sandoval added another layer to the night when he beat Brandun Lee by majority decision in a 10-round welterweight matchup. Sandoval’s win mattered because it came after his loss on Zuffa Boxing 01 to Julian Rodriguez, while Lee entered at 30-0 and left with the first blemish of his record in this setting. On a card built around a rematch at the top, that was the kind of result that made the rest of the show feel less like filler and more like a test of whether the promotion could create meaningful stakes across the lineup.
The one thing the night did not settle in this account is the outcome of Edwin De Los Santos and Jose Valenzuela’s second meeting. That leaves the main event as the fight everyone came for, but not yet the fight that closes the book on their rivalry. For now, Zuffa Boxing 08 is defined by the return of a headliner that promised answers and by the undercard results that gave the card substance while the main event still waited to be confirmed.
