{"id":484742,"date":"2026-02-19T07:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/484742\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T07:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:03:07","slug":"eddie-hearn-calls-turki-alalshikh-dana-whites-papi-in-latest-jab-between-rival-boxing-promoters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/484742\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn calls Turki Alalshikh Dana White&#8217;s &#8216;papi&#8217; in latest jab between rival boxing promoters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The brewing feud between UFC CEO Dana White and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn took a bizarre turn this week.<\/p>\n<p>Dana White\u2019s venture into boxing has only lasted a few months, and he\u2019s already made a fitting rival in Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.<\/p>\n<p>White and Zuffa Boxing have hosted three events in 2026 as the UFC headman\u2019s latest combat sports escapade takes shape. 29-0 Jai Opetaia will face Brandon Glanton for the inaugural Zuffa cruiserweight world championship on March 8th at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>Just a few events into his boxing promotion, White has a fiery critic in Hearn, who has repeatedly lambasted Zuffa Boxing in recent weeks. White recently fired back at Hearn, claiming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/dana-white\/dana-white-responds-to-eddie-hearns-jabs-at-zuffa-boxing-you-ended-up-becoming-part-of-the-problem\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he \u2018works for his Dad\u2019<\/a> and questioned his business acumen.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t take long for Hearn to take notice.<\/p>\n<p>Eddie Hearn\/Dana White boxing promoter feud continues<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/riL63dDI3n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Charlie Parsons<\/a>, Hearn responded to White\u2019s head-scratching comments.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is yes, I do work for my dad,\u201d Hearn said of White.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut guess what? Dana White has worked for his daddy for a long time. The Fertitta brothers, that\u2019s who he worked for. Right now, Dana White\u2019s got a new daddy and his name is Turki Alalshikh. Turki Alalshikh is Dana White\u2019s papi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has got to do whatever he\u2019s told because he works for TKO [Group Holdings], which is owned by SELA and the Saudis and Turki Alalshikh.\u201d (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/boxing\/472228\/eddie-hearn-blasts-dana-white-and-his-new-daddy-calls-zuffa-boxing-absolute-complete-dogsht-so-far?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=dhtwitter&amp;utm_content=app.dashsocial.com\/mma-fighting\/library\/media\/641928915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MMA Fighting<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Hearn is referencing White\u2019s past business dealings with Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season, which co-promoted Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford last year. Crawford won the fight before announcing his retirement in the weeks after the event.<\/p>\n<p>While White and Hearn seem to have mutual respect for their accomplishments, they aren\u2019t afraid to throw jabs in the public eye. In the meantime, tensions continue to build between two of combat sports\u2019 colorful characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brewing feud between UFC CEO Dana White and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn took a bizarre turn&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,10359,19007,638,82,5057,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-484742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-dana-white","12":"tag-eddie-hearn","13":"tag-mma","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-turki-alalshikh","16":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}