Dana White blew up at reporters again this week. At a Dana White’s Contender Series press conference, the questions turned to Eddie Hearn and Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, and White didn’t take it well. The Independent ran Wednesday’s story under a headline saying White had exploded at “another reporter” over the Fury vs. Joshua promoter row. That one word tells you this has happened before. On r/MMA, where the clip was posted the same day under a title saying White had crashed out “again,” the original poster said he’d never seen White this rattled.
The flashpoint was a video White posted promoting ticket information for Fury vs. Joshua. AOL and Yahoo both carried the story Wednesday under a headline that asked the question directly: breach of contract? The available reporting doesn’t say which contract is supposedly at issue, who signed it, or whether anyone has formally accused White of breaching anything. For now it’s an open question being asked loudly. Nobody has proven a claim.
Hearn sits at the center of it. The Independent framed the clash as a promoter row tied to Fury vs. Joshua, and White’s reaction suggests the subject has gotten under his skin. When the man who runs the UFC is pushing tickets for one of the biggest boxing fights of the era, people who work in boxing are going to ask what he’s doing there. Reporters were always going to ask him about it.
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It was a strange note on a night that should have been about the Contender Series. One of the feel-good stories came from inside White’s own operation. Sal Everett, who Championship Rounds described as White’s personal runner, knocked out his opponent and walked away with a UFC contract. White’s line to him had the warmth of someone who actually knows the kid: “Everybody at the UFC loves you, you’re a great kid. This could not happen to a better person... It’s kind of weird since you’re already at the UFC, but welcome to the UFC.” That’s a good story about a guy who fetched coffee and then earned a spot on the roster.
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White’s week was loud well before the press conference. In an interview with Steven Bartlett, he talked about his mother’s book about him and the falling-out that followed, calling it “one of the grossest, most disgusting things that you couldn’t even imagine possible.” At UFC 332, he was asked about the stoppage in King Green vs. Esteban Ribovics and offered a blunt “Herb’s having a rough f*cking year.” He also said he likes the idea of Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett as coaches for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, while adding, “We’ll see how the timing plays out.”
My take: White posted the Fury vs. Joshua video himself, in public, on his own accounts. When you put your name on a rival promoter’s ticket push, the contract question comes with it, and losing your temper at the reporter who asks it only makes the question louder. He could have given one plain sentence about what the video was and what agreement, if any, covers it. Instead the Hearn clip is the one people are sharing this week, ahead of Sal Everett’s knockout.
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