Dana White’s foray into the world of boxing with his new venture has now turned into a public feud with Eddie Hearn. And it’s getting personal fast. After three small-scale Zuffa Boxing shows at the Meta Apex, White described his early run as “beating up babies” while taking aim at rival promoters. He questioned Matchroom’s “vision,” pointing to Hearn’s family ties as proof he had never truly changed the sport. But the Matchroom chairman wasn’t about to let that shot go unanswered.

“We’ve got him already,” Hearn told Charlie Parsons, in response to the UFC boss’s comments. “What did it take? A month? Well, that’s, I mean, that’s a sick mind for one. I don’t know what the f– he was talking about there. That’s quite disturbing if I’m honest with you. It’s very strange because I’ve got to be honest with you. I wouldn’t say up my a—, but Dana has always been so complimentary about us as a company and me as a promoter.

“But to say that I don’t have any vision, it’s really strange. I mean, right now, when you talk about Zuffa or whatever it’s called, when you talk about their vision, what’s their vision?…. And the reality is, yes, I do work for my dad. But guess what? Dana White has worked for his daddy for a long time. The Ferttita Brothers. That’s who he worked for. And right now, Dana White’s got a new daddy. And his name is Turki Alalshikh. Turki Alalshikh is Dana White’s pappy. And he has got to do whatever he’s told. Because he works for TKO, which is owned by Sella, Saudis, and Turki Alalshikh.”

Matchroom currently promotes Anthony Joshua, Katie Taylor, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson, Dmitry Bivol, among others, including Canelo Alvarez previously. Zuffa’s standout signing so far has been Jai Opetaia—a former Matchroom fighter—with his first Zuffa title fight booked for March. The contrast in depth is real and adds more weight to Hearn’s stance.

Then he flipped White’s argument back on Zuffa’s product. Hearn mocked what he sees as the current presentation, questioning whether rolling out belts and hyping prospects with TV pundits like Max Kellerman is a vision at all. He was basically arguing that Zuffa wasn’t competing in boxing’s messy ecosystem so much as trying to build its own lane.

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The numbers and optics help explain why Hearn feels comfortable firing back. Zuffa’s first three events ran out of the Apex, with sparse crowds and modest name value on the undercards. The heavyweight main event of Efe Ajagba vs. Charles Martin headlined one show, but beyond Opetaia, there’s no stable yet that rivals Matchroom’s bench.

Eddie Hearn didn’t deny that Zuffa will improve. In fact, he said they’ll “sign some big fighters,” “s— some money,” and waste some along the way. That’s almost a concession that Dana White’s operation has resources. The criticism is about where they are now, and the claim that fans are being sold best vs best when the cards don’t yet match that slogan.

With TKO’s ties to Saudi backers, he framed White as operating under a new power structure, too. Nepotism cuts both ways, he argued, and power always answers to someone. But that’s not the only aspect of Dana White’s boxing venture that Hearn has taken issue with!

Eddie Hearn goes off on Dana White and Zuffa setting up their own world title

The other flashpoint is the idea of Zuffa rolling out its own world title. On March 8, the IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia faces Brandon Glanton to become the first Zuffa Boxing World Cruiserweight Champion. On paper, it sounds big. In practice, Hearn sees it as branding dressed up as legitimacy.

“That is the cringiest sh— I’ve ever seen,” Hearn said during an interview with iFL TV. “You know I would never do that, but I was just laughing because I was reading about, whenever it is, Jai Opetaia fighting Brandon Glanton for the Zuffa championship of the world, and I was thinking, ‘Do you know what? I could just do that.’ That would be quite amusing. Why don’t we do an iFL one as well?”

Hearn’s issue isn’t Opetaia’s quality. The Australian is a real world champion at cruiserweight and one of the division’s best operators. The issue is the belt itself. Matchroom’s roster tells you why Hearn feels comfortable calling this out. His fighters hold recognized titles across multiple sanctioning bodies, and that didn’t happen by creating in-house trophies.

The veteran promoter added that there’s no way he’d ever slap a “Matchroom world title” on a fight. He joked that even with a big ego, creating a house belt would cross a line for him and feel like straight-up disrespect to the sport.

At some point, this stops being about who threw the better insult and starts being about who actually builds something that lasts. Dana White is betting that a fresh brand, big money, and loud confidence can bend boxing toward his vision. Hearn is betting that history, depth of roster, and real titles still matter more than packaging.