Over the past few months and after recently dipping his toes in with ‘King’ Callum Walsh, UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly teased that he’ll soon enter the world of professional boxing promotion and that he is coming in “guns blazing.”
Whilst the vast majority of boxing fans are over the moon to see a new promoter, especially one with so much success in combat sports, enter the scene; Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn warns that it might not be the smoothest of transitions for the MMA mastermind.
Eddie Hearn believes Dana White will bring ‘positive’ change after initial woes
Dana White has stated that he’s set to enter the world of boxing promotion in 2025, with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn recently admitting that he believes the UFC CEO will bring positive change to the sport… Albeit, after an initial period of immense frustration.
“[It’ll go] frustratingly for him because it’s a real different model,” Hearn explained in an interview with the Sports Business Journal earlier this week.
“He’s a very bright guy that’s incredibly successful, but he has had the benefit – and he’s the reason they’ve had the benefit – of fighters having contracts where they don’t have a choice who they fight.
“And boxing, with its advisors and lawyers and managers, is very, very different and very frustrating. And I’m not sure what the model or play will be from those guys, but it won’t be easy to come in and be a major player at the elite level of the sport.”
Whilst Hearn expects that Dana White will start in the shallow end, the boxing icon did argue that his entering the sport is a good thing for both fans and fighters alike.
“I feel like their model might be different, it might be some kind of smaller league of guys that you’re not aware of, but [I’d] love to work with those guys [in the future].
“I mean, they’re a huge company and I think with the right guidance and right partners, they could have an incredibly positive effect on the sport… I hope Dana gets involved in boxing, I think it’d be great for us.”
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Joe Rogan and Donald Trump discuss the fallout of Dana White’s boxing venture
Given his vast years of experience with the UFC and his passion for combat sports, it’s no surprise to hear that some major names are interested to see how White’s boxing venture goes – including UFC commentator Joe Rogan and former US President Donald Trump.
On a recent episode of the JRE Podcast, Rogan gave a brief summary of the situation as he predicted that White could join the likes of Turki Alalshikh in being the middleman that helps alleviate some of the woes that have plagued boxing in recent years.
“They’re going to start promoting boxing now, and with Dana at the helm, I think boxing can return… The thing is, they want to make fights that other promoters maybe don’t want to make because they want to protect their fighter.
“Controversial fights where it’s dangerous, like you don’t know if this guy could lose… The Saudis are smart; they just offer a tremendous amount of money and are putting together fights that no one else can organize. They’re doing that in boxing.”
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The former US President asked whether boxing “can make it” in the modern world – “I love boxing, [and] it can still make it in the right hands,” responded Rogan.
Trump was recently filmed calling Dana White during an interview to tell him that boxing was “very slow” compared to the action he’s seen in the UFC.
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