April 11, the co-main event of the Netflix boxing card headlined by Tyson Fury’s comeback fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov, features Conor Benn and Regis Prograis squaring off. Benn’s bout against the former two-division champion follows his split from longtime promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to join Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing. Initially, reports indicated a $15 million one-fight deal. But it appears there’s more behind the structure of the offer. Well-known insider Ariel Helwani believes the whole affair was planned in a way that Hearn barely had a chance to retain Benn.

“What I think happened, and again, Eddie alluded to this, was they structured that deal,” Helwani said in the latest episode of his podcast. “Because everyone’s talking about this one-fight deal they structured, they structured that deal in a way where it was almost virtually impossible for Eddie to match it.”

“Everyone’s fixating on this one-fight deal,” he added. “I don’t believe it’s a one-fight deal; I believe it’s a handshake, wink-wink, nudge-nudge. I don’t believe Conor Benn would sabotage or ruin a relationship with Eddie Hearn for one fight. I don’t believe it. I believe that there’s a deal in place for multiple fights, and even Mark Shapiro talked about it on the conference call.”

Helwani felt the $15 million could be “front loaded” – which means the deal pays the bulk of the money upfront. They structured the agreement in a way that made it almost impossible for Eddie Hearn to match under contractual matching clauses. So it’s misleading to think the $15 million Benn would receive would be for the Regis Prograis fight alone.

The figure is likely the first piece of a bigger deal, Helwani hinted. They may spread the rest of the compensation across future fights. So the agreement may disguise multiple fights as a single massive payday.

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“So now it’s going to be interesting to see how they maneuver going forward,” Helwani wondered, calling the Zuffa team “savvy.” “Like, is it going to be, you know, is it going to be like the Regis Prograis type of fights just to take these guys away? And are they going to try to go after the Bam Rodríguezes of the world?”

Clues emerging in Conor Benn’s Zuffa future

Even if Helwani is wrong, it raises questions. Why would a No. 1-ranked contender receive an eight-figure sum for a catchweight fight against a former titleholder many consider past his prime?

What’s clear, however, is Dana White and Zuffa are approaching the boxing business with complete seriousness. While a few legacy promotions are still struggling with broadcast deals, in a span of two months, Zuffa has lined up three events, with the fourth set for this weekend. Comments from Mark Shapiro underline that aggression.

“Nobody better to run Zuffa Boxing than Dana White and Nick Khan, who know boxing backwards and forwards and grew up as fight fans before there was a WWE or UFC,” the President and CEO of TKO Holding said at a recent conference. “We are ready for battle…. They’ve been signing big stars, as evidenced by signing Conor Benn. We hope to get him exclusively in the Zuffa league.”

The last part of Shapiro’s statement signals how things may unfold for Benn. He previously shared that he would like his association with Eddie Hearn to continue. The fight with Prograis is roughly a month away. The picture should become clearer once it’s over.

Zuffa has already lined up its other buyout from Matchroom, Jai Opetaia, for the promotion’s inaugural title this week. So fans should watch and see if White and the team extend a similar deal for Benn later.