When Zuffa Boxing first launched, Dana White had no vendetta to go after Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Boxing, or any of their fighters.
But the UFC CEO, who also runs Zuffa Boxing alongside WWE president Nick Khan, says that Hearn fired the first salvo, effectively challenging him to show what he could do after getting involved in the sport of boxing. White took that as a challenge, and it ignited what’s turned into one of the most heated rivalries in combat sports.
“To be honest with you, when I got into this and started this, I wasn’t going to mess with Eddie Hearn at all,” White told IFL.tv. “And then Eddie uncharacteristically comes out and just starts going crazy and saying all this stuff. Then he starts saying stuff like ‘I look forward to competing with him, I’m going to show him who the real [promoter is],’ this, that, and all this other stuff.
“Just the way that I’m wired, I’m like Eddie, are we fighting? Are we going to fight here? OK, let’s fight.”
White scored the first knockdown in the battle after he signed Conor Benn to a one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing when the British boxer had spent his entire career working with Hearn.
Following the news that Benn was jumping ship, Hearn admitted he was deeply hurt by what he viewed as betrayal, which led to White slamming him while saying, “Is there a bigger p*ssy than Eddie Hearn?” In response, Hearn defended himself by stating that his emotional outburst was driven by the fact that he really cares about his fighters — something he doesn’t see from White or Zuffa Boxing.
“We’re very different to Dana White and those guys,” Hearn said. “They don’t give a f*ck about the fighters.”
As nasty as things have gotten between the promoters, White still says he actually likes Hearn, but he’s not backing down from his comment that the chairman of Matchroom Boxing looked terrible with his comments about Benn leaving him to sign with Zuffa.
“Oh no, it’s not personal,” White said. “I like Eddie. I don’t dislike Eddie. If you like Eddie, don’t like Eddie, nobody can deny he’s been acting like a p*ssy for the last couple months. It’s been crazy.”
As far as signing Benn to compete for Zuffa Boxing, White knows his job essentially boils down to seeking out the best possible fighters to add to his roster, and that’s not going to change now or any time in the future.
Add to that, White reiterated that Hearn had a matching clause that would have allowed him to keep Benn under contract, but he chose not to enforce it. So ultimately, Hearn has no one to blame but himself for Benn opting to sign with Zuffa.
“You’re a wealthy guy, and you’re going to be a wealthy guy until the day you die,” White said about Hearn. “Why would you be upset about a kid that you care about who has a small window of opportunity to make the most money he possibly can, making more money? If you didn’t like the fact [that we signed him], then match the offer. You could have matched the offer. You’ve got plenty of money. You could have done it.
“Here’s the thing, when you’re a fight promoter, do you know what my job is really? My job is to sign guys that I think are the best in the world, whether they have great personalities or they’re a bump on a f*cking log. If they’re looked at as the baddest dudes in the world, my job is to get them, match them up against other guys you think are the best in the world, and then I have to figure out how to make enough money for them and me. That’s my job.”
White also took aim at former friend turned bitter rival Oscar De La Hoya, who has consistently slammed the UFC executive and his move into boxing.
In De La Hoya’s opinion, Zuffa Boxing is bad for the sport, but White couldn’t help but laugh at that comment, especially considering the ongoing legal battles the former boxing champion is pursuing right now in court with some of his own fighters.
“De La Hoya thinks I’m bad for boxing — he’s suing his fighters so they won’t leave him,” White said. “He’s stopping them from making money in the short window of opportunity that they have to make money. How am I bad for boxing when there’s more money being thrown around now in the sport? And not just for the [Oleksandr] Usyk’s and the Tyson Fury’s but from the top all the way to the bottom, there’s more money being spread out. So how am I bad for boxing?
“This guy is f*cking beautiful. The Oscar De La Hoya Golden Boy ship is sinking fast. Sinking fast, and this dude’s talking shit on the way down. Bad for boxing. All of his fighters are leaving him, and he’s suing them to try to stay.”
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