We’re learning more about the complexity involved in Dana White and Eddie Hearn’s ever-evolving relationship.
While White operated on his own island in mixed martial arts with the UFC, Hearn continued building Matchroom’s boxing business from a stagnant UK operation, to a dominant one nationally, before encroaching into international territories.
While they did that, they talked amicable about one another, with White even telling Boxing Social that he was pleased good things happen to good people, when we asked him for comment about Matchroom’s relationship with Abu Dhabi, following UFC’s series of events there during the coronavirus pandemic.
What a difference a few years makes.
Now that White has launched Zuffa Boxing, which is a Thursday Night Fights-esque business, for now, both the UFC boss and Matchroom chairman appear at loggerheads.
Just yesterday, Boxing Social reported how they were arguing over who the daddy was. And the TL;DR version is that neither were, with White claiming Hearn is his father’s son, and Eddie responding by implying Las Vegas casino magnates the Fertitta brothers, and then Turki Alalshikh, are White’s.
Now, Hearn has more about apparent ghosting from White, when the pair were even Las Vegas at the same time recently.
White told reporters earlier this year that Hearn requested meeting on a Sunday, amid “nutty interviews” from his rival, that it “was kind of weird” Eddie wanted to see him. “We didn’t” want to meet, he said.
Speaking exclusively to Boxing Social, Hearn revealed how the communication really went down.
“He didn’t ghost it,” Hearn told us. “I wrote to Dana White. I’ll tell you what I said. It’s not even a big deal — it was encouraging, to talk boxing, plans. I said, ‘You’re probably busy and going to get a rest tomorrow [the day after his fight event] but if you fancy meeting up tomorrow, I’m here till Monday’.’
“And he replied, ‘Let me figure it out tomorrow.’ Then he didn’t come back, and he messaged on Monday, asking, ‘Are you still in Vegas?’ I said, ‘No, mate, I’m heading to New York,’ and he said, ‘Okay, we’ll catch up soon. I thought you were still here today’.”
Squashing any indicating of continuing any beef, Hearn insisted he’d still “meet [White] tomorrow.”
Earlier, though, Hearn doubled down on his daddy comments, saying he’s his own boss while White remains subservient to Alalshikh in boxing.
“As a promotional company, if I’m working for Turki Alalshikh on a Riyadh Season show or Ring Magazine card, then, yeah — he’s my boss. But I have 30 shows a year that I do on my own, with no input from Turki Alalshikh.
“Dana White never does a show on his own because it ain’t his company — it’s 60% owned by Turki Alalshikh and SELA. He’s an employee of TKO. It’s not his thing and he’s got to answer to the majority shareholder which is SELA, and those guys.
“When I do my 30 shows, I do whatever the f*** I want. I’m the boss. He ain’t the boss. He’s the boss of nothing.”
