Eddie Hearn downplays Dana White feud despite ongoing boxing clash

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Eddie Hearn says he has no personal issues with Dana White, even after months of back-and-forth between the two.

The head of Matchroom Boxing has called for a fight with the UFC president despite their combined age being over 100 and the clear size difference. They had shared years of mutual respect and even spent time together at the UFC Performance Institute.

In January, they were still in touch, discussing a meeting in Las Vegas to possibly ease tensions. But things changed when Zuffa Boxing landed Conor Benn with a $15 million offer while he was still linked to Hearn’s side, making any sort of reconciliation highly unlikely.

Eddie Hearn says his issue with Dana White isn’t personal

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Despite openly pushing for a fight, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn says he has nothing against Dana White personally. Speaking to IFL TV, Hearn pointed out that the two were friendly for years and that White had always separated his issues with boxing from any feelings towards him.

“I don’t dislike him,” Hearn said. “I’m a bit surprised, and don’t forget this whole thing came from him taking kind of pot shots lacking vision and all this kind of stuff. By the way, he’s been so nice to me face-to-face over the years.

“All he’s done is praise what we do in boxing, basically saying we are completely different to everybody else. His comments made me think ‘oh, I’m not so sure about that’.

Hearn then brought up an incident where White publicly called him out: “Then there was the fight stuff, right? So he calls me a p—- but he’s done it like 20 times… He went on Piers Morgan and called me out for a fight and then he said ‘Eddie Hearn wouldn’t fight me, he’s a p—-‘, so I say ‘I accept, I will fight you’.”