Dana White has answered Eddie Hearn’s “PR disaster” criticism by claiming UFC will produce Tyson Fury’s December 11 fight against Anthony Joshua in Cardiff. That gives White a more substantial response than simply explaining his empty seat at Wednesday’s press conference.
Hearn treated White’s absence as evidence that his public push to promote the event had backfired. White’s answer is that his involvement extends to delivering the Netflix show, whether he attended the London launch or stayed home.
“I had The Contender Series [on Tuesday], and I had to be here today,” White said in the response clip. “I fly a lot, but that’s a little bit of a rough trip. Not only am I promoting the [Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury] fight, we’re producing the fight too. UFC is gonna produce the show. I don’t know how that’s a PR disaster. I’m right.”
The production claim changes the argument. Hearn can point to the launch, where neither White nor Zuffa Boxing was named among the promoters. That supports his account of how the event was presented publicly. It does not, by itself, settle who will produce the broadcast.
If UFC handles production as White claims, his side would have a practical role on fight night that an absent press conference appearance cannot erase. For a Netflix audience, the presentation, pacing and delivery of the show will be far more visible than the dispute over who sat beside the fighters in London.
White’s claim to be promoting the fight faces a more concrete challenge. According to BoxingScene, the British Boxing Board of Control confirmed that Matchroom, Queensberry and SELA are the promoters listed on the paperwork for December 11. Zuffa is absent. That supports Hearn’s position on the official promotional role, while leaving White’s separate claim that UFC will produce the broadcast unresolved.
Hearn has support for his position on the official promoters. White is pointing toward a separate role for UFC in producing the December 11 broadcast.
UFC producing the show could give White a substantial role on fight night. But that would not make Zuffa an official promoter, and White’s response has yet to explain how his promotional claim fits with the Board’s paperwork..