Dana White Says He Is Producing Fury-Joshua and the Meeting Already Happened
Dana White does not think there is anything left to sort out with Eddie Hearn before Tyson Fury fights Anthony Joshua. Asked about a Los Angeles meeting, he said the meeting already happened and asked what they would even discuss.
The question came at a Dana White’s Contender Series media availability after Hearn appeared on Ariel Helwani. Hearn has spent the last two weeks calling White’s role a contract breach. White treated the premise as the problem.
“What’s the confusion? Oh, I thought there was a meeting,” White said. “There’s absolutely zero confusion.”
The reporter raised the London launch White missed, and Hearn’s claim that White was not allowed in the room. White said the absence had nothing to do with a contract. Contender Series was on a Tuesday, and he had a UFC press conference in Utah the next day.
“It’s weird if Dana White doesn’t show up to Dana White’s Contender Series on a Tuesday. I haven’t missed one in ten years, no matter what,” White said. “And then I had the press conference on the fight in Utah.”
He also said the London date was not built around him. The day was held because that was when Turki Alalshikh could be there. White called him Turkey in the answer. The point was the calendar, not a ban.
“The reason that day was held is because that was the day Turkey wanted to be at the press conference, and that was why,” White said. “Everything that I have said since however long ago I said it is true.”
Fury and Joshua are booked for Friday, December 11, at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, streaming on Netflix. The original release framed the show as a collaboration between Alalshikh’s The Ring and White. Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, says Joshua’s contract blocks White, Zuffa Boxing, and TKO from a promotional role. He has also said Sela told him in writing that White’s production claim is untrue.
White was asked what a meeting would even cover. He did not offer a topic.
“And now he’s open to meeting with me. About what?” White said. “What should we possibly meet about?”
The reporter said production was the issue, and that Hearn had called UFC handling the broadcast a breach. White did not walk the claim back. He dared the other side to test it.
“That’s a fact,” the reporter said of the production plan. White answered, “Sounds like he’s got a credible lawsuit.”
Then the tone changed. White asked whether Hearn had talked about the fighters at all. Told that Hearn had called it a big fight, he said that was the only part that mattered.
“Are you fcking kidding me right now? Did he talk about AJ and Fury?” White said. “That’s all that matters. Who gives a sh*t?”
He then restated the job he says he already has. Promoting, producing, and attending are not, in his version, open questions.
“Have I been wrong in anything that I’ve said? Nothing,” White said. “I am producing the fight. I am promoting the fight. I will be there at the fight.”
The night after Cardiff is already on the UFC calendar. UFC 335 is December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Charles Oliveira against Diego Lopes. White said he is flying straight from Wales to that card, and that the production crew is coming with him.
“And then I’m flying right back to Vegas for the UFC fight,” White said. “And all of my producers and guys that run production will be flying with me.”
That is the operational answer to Hearn’s contract argument. White is not describing a credit in a press release. He is describing a crew on a plane. Hearn’s side still says the British Boxing Board of Control has the December 11 event down to Queensberry, Matchroom, and Sela, with Zuffa not named. White’s production claim and the promoter list are not the same document.
The meeting Hearn has been selling did not survive the question. White said it is over.
“We already had the meeting. The meeting was fcking yesterday,” White said. “This is so fcking silly now. And the fact that you guys are even asking me these questions.”
Hearn had told iFL TV that he, White, and Sela chief executive Dr. Rakan Alharthy were due in Los Angeles this week, and that there was always a deal to be cut. That was the meeting White was asked about. His answer was that the conversation already happened, and that Hearn spending a Helwani interview on him was the odd part.
“If he’s on Ariel Helwani for however long he’s on, is he talking about me? Why am I the main topic?” White said. “AJ and Fury are fighting. Those two are going to make a f*ck ton of money. The fight has finally happened.”
He closed by putting the record back on himself. Nobody in the room took the invitation.
“Everything that I have said about my involvement in the fight has been absolutely true,” White said. “Anybody want to debate that? Anybody? Am I wrong?”
December 11 has not moved. White says he is producing it, promoting it, and leaving it for Las Vegas the next day. Hearn says the contract still says otherwise. White’s position is that the argument is the only thing still unresolved.
