Dana White and Eddie Hearn have had a lot to say about each other recently, much to the amusement of Paddy Pimblett.
The bizarre promoter feud has seen the two combat sports bosses publicly trading slights and insults, with White landing the first blow by signing Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing fighter Conor Benn, and Hearn answering back by working out a management contract with UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. White has frequently spoken about his plans to shake up the industry with his Zuffa Boxing endeavor, a boast that Hearn hasn’t taken lightly.
They’ve even gone back and forth on the possibility of fighting each other, with Hearn recently saying at a Matchroom Boxing event in Liverpool, England, that their boxing bout would sell “over a million” pay-per-view buys, and White continuing to brush Hearn off. Pimblett was also at the Liverpool event to watch close friend Molly McCann in action and he laughed at how two of combat sports’ most prominent executives are behaving.
“It’s be hilarious, but you know, first and foremost Dana’s an MMA promoter,” Pimblett told iFL TV. “First and foremost, Eddie’s a boxing promoter. They’re having a little bit of a mad spat at the minute. Without being disrespectful to either of them, it’s very teenage girlish, but they’ll get over it. They’re both going to end up being sweet, so we crack on for now.”
White was in attendance at UFC Winnipeg on Saturday and he was asked for his thoughts on Hearn continuing to tease the fight. He said Hearn “says a lot of dumb shit” and is “a f*cking bum,” and also called himself “old.”
There are numerous reasons why any sort of sanctioned bout between Hearn and White will never happen, but if it did, Pimblett knows which way he’s leaning.
“I’ve seen it all, it’s f*cking madness, isn’t it?” Pimblett said. “I don’t know. It’s not going to happen. Dana’s not going to box Eddie, I think it’s a bit of a mad situation. Eddie’s got the reach on him, but Dana’s my boss, I’m backing Dana. Dana’s going to spark him out. At the same time, it’s not going to happen.”
However, Pimblett agrees with Hearn that the freak show bout would attract plenty of eyeballs and end up with Hearn and White receiving massive pay days, the kind that would dwarf the salaries of the fighters on their rosters.
“The funniest thing is if they fought each other, they’d get paid well more than what the fighters getting paid,” Pimblett said. “Thirty mil each, no boxers getting that under Eddie Hearn and no UFC fighter’s getting that under Dana. They’d earn more dough than the fighters fighting, you know what I mean? That’s the funniest thing about it. And they’ve got nothing on any fighter they’ve got, but you know, that’s just the way the world works.”
UFC Winnipeg post-fight show.
RAF 8 post-fight press conference.
Arnold Allen’s cheat day.
Check out Molly McCann’s latest W.
On to The Next One. Alexander K. Lee is joined by special guest Jay Anderson of Cageside Press to figure out what’s next for Mike Malott and UFC Winnipeg’s other big winners.
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