Eddie Hearn isn’t buying what Zuffa Boxing is selling.
As UFC CEO Dana White moves deeper into the boxing world under the Zuffa Boxing banner, he’s made it clear that his promotion will recognize its own championship, along with Ring Magazine titles, as the gold standard. However, Eddie Hearn, the longtime head of Matchroom Boxing, isn’t impressed with the idea of creating an in-house world title.
“That is the cringiest sh*t I’ve ever seen,” Eddie Hearn said in an interview with iFL TV. “You know I would never do that, but I was just laughing because I was reading about 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?”
Zuffa Boxing is set to crown its first champion when Jai Opetaia faces Brandon Glanton for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing World Cruiserweight Championship. It marks another step in Dana White’s push into the sport, with multiple events already completed and more scheduled.
However, Eddie Hearn sees the move as disrespectful to boxing’s long-standing tradition.
“Do you think I would disrespect boxing that much where I would say, we are going to bring out the ‘Matchroom Boxing World Championship?’” Eddie Hearn said. “My ego’s out of control, that would have to be — that’s beyond anything I could ever fathom or ever bring myself to do.”
Eddie Hearn’s roots in boxing run deep. His father, Barry Hearn, founded Matchroom Boxing in 1982, and the promotion has since worked with elite fighters such as Anthony Joshua, Dmitry Bivol, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson, and Katie Taylor. Matchroom fighters have captured recognized world titles through sanctioning bodies like the WBC and WBA, belts tied to decades of history.
That legacy, Eddie Hearn argues, is what gives a championship real meaning.
“I’m telling you, we don’t deserve to have a world championship,” Eddie Hearn said. “The history and legacy of the sport governs that. Listen, I get what Zuffa are doing because maybe in five or 10 years’ time, maybe the Zuffa World Championship is something that you younger generations want to win, but it just ain’t for me. It’s not boxing.”
He continued with a sarcastic example of what it would sound like if he followed the same blueprint.
“So I don’t want to just create my own belt and go into amateur gyms and go, ‘Mate, you know what you want to win when you grow up, don’t ya? The Matchroom Boxing World Championship.’
“‘Oh do I? Do I, Eddie? Yeah, what’s that?’
“‘It’s my new world championship belt. This is going to be the biggest thing in boxing. If you’re going to be a real champ, you’ve got to win the MBWC, that’s the Matchroom Boxing World Championship.’
“‘Oh, wow! No, no, you haven’t. You’ve got to win the WBC. You’ve got to win the WBA. You know the belt that Muhammad Ali won? Do you know the belt that “Sugar” Ray Leonard won? The belt that Mike Tyson won? Roberto Duran? Larry Holmes? Pernell Whitaker? Floyd Mayweather? You know what I mean?”
While Eddie Hearn has acknowledged Dana White’s ambition in boxing, the back-and-forth between the two promoters has grown more pointed in recent months. White has previously labeled Hearn as “very confrontational,” but Hearn insists his stance comes from protecting the sport’s credibility.
Zuffa Boxing continues to build momentum, with upcoming events scheduled in Las Vegas. Whether the new championship gains long-term legitimacy remains to be seen.
