Eddie Hearn says Dana White has no one to blame but himself for how nasty things got between them while trying to put together the upcoming Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight.
Hearn says none of the ugly rhetoric had to happen if White and Zuffa Boxing had just come to the table for a negotiation before everything spiraled out of control.
“What do you expect me to do when it's a breach of the agreement?†Hearn told The Stomping Ground on Thursday. “Just go, ‘Oh these guys are coming into boxing, I suppose I better just lay down and let them walk all over me and tickle my balls.' No, obviously not. I'm going to turn around and say f*cking no way, son, not on my watch. Are you f*cking serious? Everything that they did made me fight harder.
“Really what they should have done and I told SELA this originally. What you need to do is tell Dana White when he speaks just to say, ‘I understand contractually we can't be involved in the event, however, Turki Alalshikh, Netflix, I think would like us to be involved in the event so what I'm going to do is sit down with Eddie and Turki and we'll talk about it and try to find a solution.' That's it. I probably would have had that meeting and just gone ‘Sweet, we'll find a way.' You expect me, the way we were disrespected, to allow that? No way.â€'
Hearn promises he was more than willing to sit down and discuss how exactly White and his team could get involved in the Fury vs. Joshua fight but that never happened.
Instead, Hearn believes White just wanted to bulldoze his way into the event because he's partners with Saudi money man Turki Alalshikh and the situation only escalated from there.
“We can talk, we can get over things,†Hearn said. “We can find a way that's good for everybody. But when you come out and you goad me and you disrespect me and you want to breach a contract without even having a chat, it ain't going to play out like that.
“There's an arrogance, they're control freaks, they don't like it when things don't go their way.â€
With the fight now official, Hearn is moving on but it remains to be seen if the burnt bridges can ever be rebuilt.
“They think you can just walk in and take over,†Hearn said. “It's not going to play out like that.â€
A welterweight matchup between Rhys McKee
and Ernesto
Rodriguez has been added to the
Professional Fighters League's upcoming event in Dubai.
McKee will meet Rodriguez on Nov. 14 at
PFL Dubai as the Northern Irish fighter looks to build momentum
in the welterweight division. He made a successful PFL debut in
April, while his Cuban-American counterpart is 1-1 in the
promotion.
Rhys McKee sees major stakes in his PFL Dubai fight against
Ernesto Rodriguez
McKee (15-7-1) endured two unsuccessful stints in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, going 0-2 and 1-3 on either
side of a championship run with
Cage Warriors.
He returned to the win column in his PFL debut at the promotion's
Belfast event in April, earning a decision victory over Alex
Lohore. “Skeletor†is excited about the stakes of his upcoming
bout and believes a victory could earn him a place in the
rankings.
“I’ve seen how big an event is there and know it’ll be a special
night, having a fight that will put me straight into the rankings
with a tough opponent in Ernesto; it’s all to play for,†McKee said
(via BBC).
Meanwhile, Rodriguez enters the matchup looking to rebound from his
short-notice defeat to Thad Jean in
July. He challenged Jean for the PFL welterweight title but lost
via technical knockout in the third round.
Deiveson
Figueiredo has been training in Thailand in preparation for his
next bantamweight challenge.
The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight titleholder will face
Payton
Talbott at UFC
332 on Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City. After suffering four defeats
in his last five fights, the Brazilian has spent his latest
training camp in Thailand sharpening his muay thai.
Deiveson Figueiredo sharpens Muay Thai and grappling for Payton
Talbott
Speaking to Sherdog, Figueiredo said the trip was initially
intended as an opportunity to spend a month training and
experiencing Thailand before the UFC presented him with the matchup
against Talbott.
“Actually, I came here to spend a month sharpening my muay thai and
experiencing Thailand, which had been a longtime dream of mine,â€
Figueiredo said. “When I got here, the UFC offered me this fight,
so I decided to do my entire camp here.â€
Figueiredo worked on his striking with Phuket Fight Club head coach
Leo Elias while also training with wrestlers at the gym to sharpen
his grappling.
“Elias is everything people say he is,†Figueiredo said. “We worked
a lot on striking volume. I also got a lot of help from fighters
from Chechnya, Dagestan and Uzbekistan when it came to grappling. I
was able to learn a lot from them.â€
“Deus Da Guerra†believes he is prepared for wherever the fight
with Talbott takes place.
“I always look to mix things up. What I can say is that I'm ready
to neutralize Talbot's game, wherever the fight takes place.â€
Darren Till gets honest about his performance in win over Yoel Romero
ONE Championship
Every one of his six professional wins has ended before the final bell. The unbeaten Hawaiian now has a plan to keep that streak alive, and it starts with a hook along the ropes.
Joshua Perreira meets Antonio “The Flash†Cesar in a flyweight MMA bout at ONE Fight Night 48 on Prime Video on Friday, October 2. The contest airs live in U.S. primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 29-year-old American owns a 6-0 (1 NC) record, with four knockouts and two submissions. He returned from a serious knee injury earlier this year to stop Gilbert Nakatani with a 38-second spinning backfist.
Cesar, 22, is 14-2 and riding a nine-fight winning streak, including a unanimous decision over Lito Adiwang in his ONE debut in July. Perreira pictures the finish starting with a hook.
“I think, as he's circling out, it'll be a right or a left hook if he circles to either side up against the ropes. I'll shift forward to another stance. I'll catch him with that hook. I think it'll stumble him, not necessarily knock him out, but I see it hurting him to the point where I follow him to the ground,†Perreira said.
“If he's able to defend my strikes, I'm going to try to establish a solid position, rain shots down, and if the submission – whatever that may be – presents itself, I will secure it. And like a vice grip, I will get him.â€
Joshua Perreira targets Yuya Wakamatsu next
A win over the in-form Brazilian would place Perreira in the top tier of the division. He is unsure whether it would earn an immediate shot at ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Avazbek Kholmirzaev.
Instead, the Immortal Martial Arts Center product has his sights on former titleholder Yuya “Little Piranha†Wakamatsu.
“I think that'd be fantastic, even more of a step up in competition. He's an elusive striker with solid grappling. And a win over him would cement me as next in line for the title,†Perreira said.
“Who knows? I'm just happy to be doing what I love, being a complete martial artist and showing my skills on the world stage.â€