Eddie Hearn says Dana White ‘completely cooked’ as Fury v Joshua promoter row rumbles on

Eddie Hearn has said UFC boss Dana White is “completely cooked” as the row over who is involved with promotion of the upcoming Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua showdown continues to rumble on.

Hearn and his Matchroom Boxing organisation promote Joshua, while Frank Warren represents Fury but White – backed by Saudi matchmaker Turki Alalshikh – and his Zuffa Boxing stable are adamant they will be involved in the production of the heavyweight fight for the Netflix broadcast.

Hearn has been dead against this since the start and White wasn’t at Wednesday’s launch press conference for the blockbuster British bout, which he claimed was because of his obligation to attend UFC’s Contender Series the day prior.

White has insisted that he will be on the ground in Cardiff on 11 December for the fight itself but Hearn – who released a compilation video that went viral on social media this week of White giving a variety of confused and contradictory answers about the bout – has now hit out at his rival again in no uncertain terms.

“To be honest with you, at this point, I think he’s just completely cooked,” Hearn said of the UFC supremo at a press conference in Birmingham following Ben Whittaker’s victory over Conor Wallace on Saturday evening.

“What he actually said was, ‘We are doing the TV production,’ which, again, in the contract is prohibited.

“I wasn’t going to drop that [compilation] video, by the way, because I thought, ‘You know what? I’ll leave it now.’ I actually started to feel bad for him…

“Then I woke up to [White’s comments response] and thought I’ll just drop the video. After that video, I spoke to SELA [Saudi events company], and I said, ‘Have you seen his comments?’ And they said, ‘Yes, and it’s completely untrue.’ They told me that in writing. He cannot do that under the contract.”

On Saturday evening, White was at UFC 332, where Natalia Silva was crowned as the new UFC women’s flyweight champion, and responded to Hearn’s latest claims in typically defiant fashion.

“I will be there,” said White about his potential presence at the Fury-Joshua fight on 11 December. “We’re producing the show. Just like Canelo [Alvarez vs Terence] Crawford [in September 2025], same thing.

“Craig Borsari, Zach [Candito], my whole team – we will be producing the show. I will have my little phone on the table, just like tonight and every other night and every other show that I produce.”

Hearn did offer the slightest of olive branches to white, not only praising his tenacity but suggesting there will be a meeting in Los Angeles between the parties next week to iron out their differences and perhaps come to some sort of mutually agreeable conclusion.

“I’ve gotta actually admire him,” Hearn said of White. “Because rather than just going, ‘Listen, fair play. Hearn’s had me by the short and curlies.’ Actually, there’s not many of those, but he goes, ‘No!’ And he just won’t give up.

“So I’ve got to quite respect and admire it, because the front on him is unbelievable. But they want me to meet them in LA next week, which I probably will.

“It could be to clear the air. It could be, ‘What are we going to do? Are we going to keep doing this?’ Ultimately, and I don’t mean to sound arrogant, [White] cannot be involved in the fight unless myself and Anthony allow them to be.

“They seem to be very desperate to be involved in the fight, and Turki [Alalshikh] wants them to be involved in the fight, and so do Netflix. And I get, like, it’s great for the promotion. So I’m not against it – I just want you to tell me and explain why. Why should I? What’s in it for Anthony? What’s in it for us? And once we establish that, we can make a decision.”

However, White promptly poured cold water on any suggestion of an amicable agreement by insisting that no such meeting has been set up.

“I haven’t heard anything about any meetings next week,” White added. “Between who? What do I need to meet about? I answered this whole question. It’s the same as it’s been since however long we’ve been talking about this.

“I hear nothing until you guys say it to me in press conferences. I don’t care [who did the deal]. I’ll be there. I’m producing it. I’m promoting it. I’ll see you in Wales.”