Dana White doesn’t seem bothered that a sit-down with Eddie Hearn never happened. Asked about the missed meeting with the Matchroom Boxing boss, White answered with a shrug of a question: “Why do we need to meet?” RingSide24 carried the line in its headline on Wednesday. A clip that circulated on X the night before showed White getting visibly heated when Hearn’s name came up. The account that posted it called it a crash-out, and it was presented with a laughing emoji rather than any context about what set him off.
The exchange is the latest bit of friction between the UFC boss and the established boxing promoters he keeps brushing up against as he pushes deeper into their sport. So far it has played out in sound bites rather than across a table.
Hearn had already supplied his half of the back-and-forth. Speaking in comments Ariel Helwani shared on X on Tuesday, Hearn said he’d welcome White at the next Fury-Joshua press conference, with one condition attached.
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“I don’t have an issue with Dana White being at the press conference. I would actually love to get him up there. But you’ve got to let us go at it,” Hearn said.
He also made clear who he thought would control the room. “He will only be there if we allow him to be there,” Hearn said, before going further: “If you think you’ve seen a car crash so far, wait till you see when I get in front of him at a press conference. My goodness... It would just be like taking candy from a baby.”
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That’s classic Hearn. He’s a promoter who has made a career out of being the most entertaining voice at the dais, and he plainly sees White as a sparring partner who would draw cameras. White, by asking why a meeting is even necessary, is declining the invitation to that kind of theater, at least for now.
It has been a busy, strange week of headlines for White. On Tuesday’s Contender Series, his personal runner, Sal Everett, knocked out his opponent, and White handed him a UFC contract afterward. “Everybody at the UFC loves you, you’re a great kid. This could not happen to a better person,” White told him in a clip shared by Championship Rounds, adding, “It’s kind of weird since you’re already at the UFC, but welcome to the UFC.” Days earlier, on Steven Bartlett’s show, White spoke about his mother’s book about him and their falling-out, calling it “one of the grossest, most disgusting things that you couldn’t even imagine possible.”
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My take: Hearn needs this fight more than White does. A promoter who wants White on his stage, under his terms, at his press conference, is a promoter asking for a co-star. White’s five-word answer tells you he knows that, and he isn’t handing Hearn the microphone moment he’s angling for. If White ever does walk into a Fury-Joshua presser, it’ll be because it suits him. Until then, the closest these two get to sharing a table is a reporter reading one man’s quote to the other.
