Dana White knew he was going to ruffle some feathers with the launch of Zuffa Boxing but even the people he got along with the most in the sport have suddenly taken aim at him.
With the new promotion set to officially launch on Jan. 23 with Callum Walsh taking on Carlos Ocampo in the main event set to air on Paramount+, White is doing his best to reinvent a sport he says feels like a “fire sale” every time there’s a major card. Zuffa Boxing is attempting to shake things up by bringing UFC-style promotion to boxing through a new law winding its way through Congress after already inking a long-term broadcast deal with Paramount.
Of course, White has never held his tongue when it comes to his opinions on certain promoters — Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions’ Oscar De La Hoya come to mind — but he always maintained a positive relationship with Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn. That has suddenly changed in the wake of Zuffa Boxing preparing to launch in 2026.
“There are some good guys in the sport of boxing,” White told Stephen A. Smith on his podcast. “I was actually surprised Eddie Hearn, I’ve been cool with him for a long time, at his take on me getting into boxing and his reaction to it. Very negative. Very confrontational, which I found weird, because it’s not his style.”
In recent months, Hearn has bashed plans to upend the sport with the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which would allow Zuffa Boxing to run a promotion similar to the UFC with in-house championship titles, rankings and fighters being signed to long-term, exclusive deals. He also mocked the compensation he claimed Zuffa is paying fighters after reportedly seeing some contract offers made to fighters.
In response, White believes that Hearn is just reacting to the potential threat that Zuffa Boxing poses to his business model without even holding a single show yet.
“Yes, 100 percent [it’s because we’re coming to boxing],” White said. “He’s talking like a politician now. He’s like ‘I look forward to [it], we’re going to beat them, we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that.’
“You’ve been here for 25 years. What are you talking about? It’s like the politician who’s running for re-election. He’s going to tell you all the things he’s going to change and do. Well, why didn’t you do that in your last term? That’s Eddie Hearn.”
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