{"id":494641,"date":"2026-02-21T12:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/494641\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T12:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:22:08","slug":"eddie-hearn-reveals-conor-benns-response-when-asked-about-joining-dana-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/494641\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn reveals Conor Benn’s response when asked about joining Dana White"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn has revealed exactly what Conor Benn told him when he asked the boxer to call him after finding out that he\u2019d signed with Dana White\u2019s Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n

On Friday (February 20), it emerged that British fighter Benn<\/a> had brought his 10-year association with Matchroom Boxing to an end after signing a reported one-fight deal with UFC boss White\u2019s Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n

Twenty-nine-year-old Benn, who boasts a record of 24-1 in the paid ranks, took to Instagram and posted a statement thanking Hearn and Matchroom for \u201ceverything\u201d they had done for him.<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing is a promotional outfit backed by UFC boss White and funded in part by Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Benn\u2019s deal, according to Sports Illustrated<\/a> journalist Chris Mannix, is worth an \u201ceight-figure\u201d sum.<\/p>\n

White also reacted to signing Benn and described the boxer as \u201can absolute beast and superstar\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"ConorConor Benn has signed with Zuffa Boxing (Credit:Getty)<\/p>\n

However, Hearn was not so kind when discussing Benn and revealed that he was \u201cpretty devastated\u201d, while saying that he had made a \u201cmistake\u201d trusting the boxer.<\/p>\n

Matchroom and Hearn had previously supported Benn while he was suspended after testing positive twice for the banned substance clomifene, which led to a two-year battle with authorities before the ban was eventually lifted in the winter of 2024.<\/p>\n

Speaking to IFL TV<\/a> on Friday, Hearn explained how he learned of the deal after reading an email from Benn\u2019s lawyer.<\/p>\n

“I just felt that the loyalty we’ve shown would never, ever put us in this position,” Hearn explained.<\/p>\n

“I just felt that I never really needed to push Conor Benn to sign a new contract previously \u2014 and I probably could’ve got him to sign a new contract previously.<\/p>\n

“I just felt… everything that we gave him, the loyalty that we gave him, the support we gave him would be enough to talk it through and get close to a number. But there wasn’t really the interest.<\/p>\n

“Very surprising. Very painful. But just another moment in life that you live and learn from.”<\/p>\n

Hearn also explained how he\u2019d asked Benn if the pair could speak on the phone, to which he replied: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe texted me just after the announcement, and I replied,\u201d Hearn added.<\/p>\n

“We had a few back-and-forths.”<\/p>\n

Benn has been heavily linked with a fight for the WBC welterweight world title and has his sights set on facing the winner of Ryan Garcia vs Mario Barrios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn has revealed exactly what Conor Benn told him when he asked the boxer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,30027,958,9915,85],"class_list":["post-494641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-conor-benn","tag-dana-white","tag-eddie-hearn","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494641","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=494641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}