{"id":489518,"date":"2026-02-19T06:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489518\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:13:08","slug":"whos-the-daddy-eddie-hearn-responds-to-ufc-boss-dana-whites-taunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489518\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s the daddy? Eddie Hearn responds to UFC boss Dana White\u2019s taunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest fights in boxing<\/a> this year might not just be Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury, or David Benavidez against Artur Beterbiev, or even Shakur Stevenson vs Conor Benn.<\/p>\n

This bout isn\u2019t one being fought in the ring but in boardrooms. And while there\u2019s no official belt on the line, the future of sport itself could be at stake.<\/p>\n

In one corner, you have the old guard \u2014 a traditional power player who has continued his bloodline in boxing. He is the Matchroom chairman, Eddie Hearn, and he thrives in competition.<\/p>\n

In the other corner, you have the brash newcomer, once a spot reserved for Hearn, but now occupied by the new player entering the space. He is the UFC boss Dana White, and he\u2019s infiltrated the Sweet Science through Zuffa Boxing alongside Nick Khan and Tom Loeffler.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fight for the ages, people. And the way they\u2019re trashing one another, you\u2019ll want to load up on popcorn, because this show is only just getting started.<\/p>\n

In the last week alone Hearn called the Zuffa championship belts the \u201ccringiest s***\u201d he\u2019d \u201cever seen,\u201d telling iFL he wouldn\u2019t have the gall to bring out a Matchroom title when the sport is steeped in historical championships from the WBC to the WBA, and everything that came along after.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for White to respond<\/a> and, following the conclusion of the Zuffa Boxing 03 event in Las Vegas on Sunday, the UFC boss told reporters that people like Hearn \u201cdon\u2019t stop talking.\u201d He said: \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody looks at Eddie Hearn and says, \u2018Oh, this guy\u2019s a visionary\u2019. The guy\u2019s been in boxing forever. I look at him like most politicians. You\u2019ve done nothing in the sport \u2026 Eddie works for his dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, speaking to The Stomping Ground, Hearn fired back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDana\u2019s always been so complimentary about us as a company and me as a promoter,\u201d Hearn told Charlie Parsons. \u201cBut to say I don\u2019t have any vision it\u2019s really strange.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about Zuffa \u2026 their vision \u2014 what is it? Getting Max Kellerman to tell everyone that Callum Walsh is the next Roy Jones?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOr putting Charles Martin on a headline show on a Sunday night in front of 126 people in your garage on a ring that looks like you got it from some local club show? What sort of vision is that? It\u2019s a belt. It\u2019s Zuffa. What a vision. That\u2019s not vision, that\u2019s control.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hearn then criticized White and Zuffa for trying to rewrite the sport with the Muhammad Ali Revival Act, rather than coming into the sport and honoring its traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, when he says we can\u2019t compete, they can\u2019t compete in this cut-throat world of boxing,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cThey want to create their own world.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you compare Matchroom shows to Zuffa shows, quite frankly, Zuffa are dog-s***. But they\u2019ll get better, sign big fighters, waste some money, but they\u2019re clever people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hearn blasted White for \u201ctrying to manipulate\u201d fight fans by proclaiming Zuffa to be a platform where the best fight the best when \u201cit\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe reality is, I do work for my dad, but, guess what \u2026 Dana White has worked for his daddy. The Fertitta brothers. And now he\u2019s got a new daddy \u2014 Turki Alalshikh. <\/p>\n

\u201cTurki is Dana White\u2019s papi, and he\u2019s got to do whatever he\u2019s told because he works for TKO, which is owned by Sela and Saudis and Turki Alalshikh. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt took him a nanosecond to get personal because right now he\u2019s bottom of the pile in terms of quality in terms of a boxing promoter but they\u2019re a good operation and they will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the biggest fights in boxing this year might not just be Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-489518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}