Eddie Hearn has responded to criticism from UFC president Dana White following the departure of Conor Benn from Matchroom Boxing to Zuffa Boxing, saying he stands by his reaction to the split.<\/p>\n
The dispute between the two promoters comes after Benn signed a one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing, the new promotion backed by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority. Benn had been represented by Hearn for most of his career, and White mocked the promoter during the UFC Houston post-fight press conference, asking: \u201cIs there a bigger p*ssy than Eddie Hearn?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearn rejected that criticism while addressing the situation publicly. \u201cI hear people\u2019s comments like Dana White [saying] \u2018Eddie Hearn is a p*ssy,\u2019 Terence Crawford [saying,] \u2018Do you think Eddie Hearn actually cares about these guys?\u2019\u201d Hearn said, according to IFL.tv<\/a> and MMA Fighting<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not saying I\u2019m different but we\u2019re very different to Dana White and those guys. They don\u2019t give a f*ck about the fighters.\u201d<\/p>\n The Matchroom boss said his reaction reflects how invested he becomes in the fighters he works with. \u201cYou can\u2019t think when Dalton [Smith] wins, that\u2019s me putting on this act of jumping in the ring like an absolute clown, diving on the floor looking like Humpty Dumpty? That\u2019s because I care,\u201d Hearn added. \u201cIf you think \u2018you\u2019re a p*ssy\u2019 for showing emotion or caring, then so be it. We\u2019re very different people.\u201d<\/p>\n Hearn also acknowledged that Benn\u2019s decision to leave had been difficult, though he insisted he had moved on from the situation. \u201cBut I do care and it did hurt and I do feel massively betrayed but at the same time, I haven\u2019t been moping around this week going \u2018Oh my god, it still cuts so deep,\u2019\u201d Hearn said.\u00a0 \u201cYou just look at it and go I know what you are and that\u2019s it and you\u2019ve got to live with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Hearn said White\u2019s comments may even help raise his profile in the United States while the rivalry between boxing promoters continues to develop. \u201cFirst, this is so good for me,\u201d Hearn continued. \u201cYou\u2019re sitting at your UFC press conference and you\u2019re talking about me. In terms of me building a profile or brand in the U.S., this is golden. The more they talk about me, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n Zuffa Boxing\u2019s deal with Benn is funded by SELA, the organisation headed by Turki Alalshikh, while TKO Group Holdings \u2014 the parent company of the UFC and Zuffa Boxing \u2014 receives a fee to organise and promote events. Despite losing one of his top fighters, Hearn said he has no issue with Alalshikh\u2019s role in the move. \u201cI have no problem with Turki Alalshikh at all,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I know he does and when he needs me, we\u2019ll do business. And when he doesn\u2019t need me, or he wants to try and f*ck me, he might f*ck me. But at least I know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn has responded to criticism from UFC president Dana White following the departure of Conor Benn from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-513897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513897","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=513897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}