Eddie Hearn escalates his ongoing feud with Dana White.
There was a time when Whyte and Hearn got along quite well, but that changed once they found themselves competing on the same stage.
advertise
White returned to boxing in 2026, launching Zuffa Boxing. He promised big changes to the sport, but Hearn remained skeptical, especially about how the new promotion would handle its championship structure.
The UFC boss hit back after last Saturday’s Zuffa Fight 3 event, mentioning the father of his fellow promoter, which seemed very personal.
“I don’t want to sit here and crush Eddie Hearn, but Eddie Hearn worked for his dad, you know what I mean? He worked for his dad and I don’t think he came in with any type of vision that we did,” White said.
The 46-year-old Englishman disagrees with this assessment. In fact, he saw some contradictions in it.
advertise
Eddie Hearn responds to Dana White’s latest jibe, calls Turki Arasheh his ‘dad’
Photo by James Fein/Getty Images
In a chat with The Stomping Ground, Hearn didn’t hesitate to mention the Fertitta brothers and Turki Alalshikh in his response.
White’s boxing career was co-founded by Arasheh and is financially backed by Saudi Arabia, giving the Brit the chance to call him “dad” to the new promotion.
“Yes, I do work for my dad, but guess what? Dana White has been working for his dad for a long time,” Hearn began.
“Brother Fertitta is who he works with. Now Dana White has a new dad, and his name is Turki Arasheh.”
advertise
He also dismissed the third Zuffa boxing match, saying he didn’t feel threatened by what he saw.
“What was their vision? … to have Charles Martin headline the show in front of 126 people in your garage on a Sunday night?
“At the moment when you compare Matchroom’s show to Zuffa’s show, Zuffa’s show is, frankly, an absolute complete dog -” the Brit concluded.
UFC fighter Joaquin Buckley not happy with Dana White’s boxing comments
Hearn is not alone in taking issue with some of what White has said recently.
UFC fighter Joaquin Buckley also fired back after hearing about the Zuffa Boxing 3 press conference.
advertise
The UFC boss laughed off Buckley’s suggestion that he could take out Shakur Stevenson and Terrence Crawford in street fights, and the “New Mantha” didn’t like the dismissal.
“Damn, Dana. You forgot who I am, huh?” Barkley said in an Instagram video.
“You forget about the guy who had the Knockout of the Year title in 2020, one of the hottest knockouts in the UFC? You forget about a guy that you said to Kamzat (Chimaev) and Kevin Holland, ‘Hey man, this is a guy to watch in 2021’?
“Look, Dana, this is nothing personal, man…but if you think MMA fighters don’t have a place in Zuffa boxing, I believe you’re wrong.
advertise
“Give us a chance to go out and put it on some boxers…use us as a tool. Get your son Callum Walsh to come to the Apex with me…and I’ll show you how I hold my own in the ring.”
Read more: