Paddy Pimblett has an opinion on a heavyweight boxing match, and it made headlines. That alone tells you where we are.
Bloody Elbow posted on X Tuesday that the UFC lightweight had delivered a “surprise prediction for Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua super fight.” The post was a headline and a link. It didn’t say which way Paddy went, and I’m not going to put a pick in his mouth. The part that grabs me is who’s making the prediction. A 155-pounder from the octagon is now a go-to voice on the biggest all-British heavyweight fight in a decade. Boxing purists can file their complaints. MMA has already walked into this building, and I’m thrilled about it.
Count the UFC fingerprints
Start with the man signing the checks. Dana White told Pat McAfee on Tuesday, “We’re promoting and producing the fight.” He then bragged about the box office. According to White, there were fewer than 700 tickets left when sales opened, which he called “basically considered a sellout,” and he said the 80,000-seat Principality Stadium in Cardiff sold out.
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White also revealed that he wanted to announce Fury vs. Joshua at UFC Freedom 250, the show on the South Lawn of the White House this summer. Fury was there and even got a segment talking to the camera. Everybody expected the announcement. It never came, and the moment got awkward. White’s explanation was perfect: “Fckery [happened]. A lot of fckery has gone on since then.”
That f*ckery had a name, and it was mostly Eddie Hearn. White and Hearn fought over White’s role, and they fought over the venue. White wanted Madison Square Garden. Joshua and Hearn wanted the U.K. and won. Frank Warren is involved too, so this card has more promoters than some cards have fighters. Chris Rini summed it up in his cartoon on X with the caption “WHO’S ACTUALLY PROMOTING TYSON FURY vs ANTHONY JOSHUA ?” Good question, Chris.
Then the plot thickened. Bloody Elbow reported that the UFC listed an event at the Principality Stadium on December 11, the exact date and building for Fury vs. Joshua, which streams globally on Netflix. Nobody has confirmed MMA fights on the card. Bloody Elbow said plainly that the listing could simply be White’s way of being involved as a promoter. Still, when the UFC calendar lists a boxing stadium on a boxing night, people are going to talk.
Alistair Overeem is already talking. The former Strikeforce champ went on Instagram and called out Rico Verhoeven to box on the Dec. 11 card, writing “Stop hiding” and “Let’s make history.” Verhoeven lost his boxing debut to Oleksandr Usyk this past May in Egypt on a controversial 11th-round stoppage. The two were supposed to fight in kickboxing in 2021 before Overeem withdrew hurt. That’s a real grudge with real history, the opposite of manufactured beef.
The purists have a point, and a limit
I read the fan comments under Bloody Elbow’s piece, and the anti-MMA crowd isn’t crazy. One reader, markmarston, wanted “eyeballs on our British boxers” and asked why the country should let White build “all of his US UFC fighters.” Another, shamanth.jayaram, wrote: “Just keep boxing on boxing cards and MMA on MMA cards.” Fair. A sold-out stadium is a great place to introduce a young British prospect.
But the other side has the better argument. Bloody Elbow’s own piece noted that boxing fans often only care about the last fight, while UFC crowds fill the seats for the opener. It also raised the uncomfortable point that this fight might be 10 years too late, since Fury and Joshua have been in talks for a decade. A reader named edd said yes, as long as it’s a big co-main event that appeals beyond diehards. That’s my position exactly.
The condition matters. Swapping two boxing journeymen for two MMA journeymen accomplishes nothing and makes both sports look cheap. If White puts MMA in Cardiff, it has to be a fight people would buy on its own. Overeem vs. Verhoeven under boxing rules has at least the bones of that. A random prelim scrap filling a slot does not.
That brings it back to Paddy. Whatever he picked, the fact that a UFC lightweight’s take on Fury vs. Joshua is worth a Bloody Elbow headline shows the crossover already happened before a single MMA bout was booked. White is producing it. The UFC calendar has the date. An old UFC heavyweight is calling out a GLORY legend for a spot on it. Fighters from both sports want a piece because this is where the money and the cameras are.
I love a big crossover night, and I don’t need 80,000 people in Wales to pick a side between boxing and MMA. Give me Fury and Joshua finally in the ring, give me one MMA name worth the airtime if Dana insists, and keep the gimmicks off the card. The first bell in Cardiff rings December 11 on Netflix, and by then we’ll know whether White’s calendar listing was a promoter’s flex or the start of a hybrid card.
