Dana White vs Eddie Hearn: the full timeline of the Fury vs Joshua row, and where it's left off

From Conor Benn's defection to Cardiff and the reports that the fight is in peril: every turn in the feud between the UFC chief and Anthony Joshua's promoter, and where it stands now.

Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua is scheduled for Friday 11 December at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, live on Netflix. Whether it happens now turns on whether Dana White, the UFC chief executive who runs Zuffa Boxing, can help promote it when Joshua's contract says he cannot. This is how the feud between White and Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, got here.

Where it stands (Saturday 26 September)

The Ring's Mike Coppinger reported on Friday that the fight could be called off, and sources told Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix the issue is White: Turki Alalshikh, who is funding it, wants him as a promoter, while Joshua and Hearn have a contract that rules him out: Fury vs Joshua in doubt. Hearn told Dan Rafael: "Our contract is very clear. Dana and TKO can have no promotional involvement in the event. They have been written to." Asked whether it would be sorted out, he said: "Probably but who knows?"

Rafael reported that the launch press conference, due on Wednesday 30 September at the British Airways Arc at Olympia in London, is "in limbo", and, citing sources with knowledge of the agreement, that Fury has not yet enrolled in the drug-testing programme both sides agreed to. Nothing has been called off.

At the Zuffa Boxing 11 press conference in London that night, White said he did not know whether the fight would happen and told Hearn to finance it himself: Dana White doesn't know if Fury vs Joshua will happen. Asked whether he had done the deal that took the fight to Cardiff, he said: "Did I call and negotiate the deal?... No, I did not." White did not negotiate the Cardiff deal. Fury then put the chances of the fight going ahead at one per cent: Fury puts Joshua fight at one per cent.

Monday 28 September: Netflix steps in

Ariel Helwani reported that Netflix is trying to mediate and that there is "great optimism" the fight goes ahead, with a deadline set for Sunday night and the hope that Wednesday's press conference can happen: Netflix trying to save Fury vs Joshua.

2025: the rivalry starts

Turki Alalshikh, Saudi Arabia's Sela and the UFC's parent company TKO announced a boxing venture in March 2025, which became Zuffa Boxing. Hearn welcomed the competition but was not worried. "Those guys, in my opinion, won't be able to lace my boots in boxing promotion," he said on the Ariel Helwani Show in April, as reported by Yahoo Sports. White's company promoted Canelo Alvarez against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas in September 2025, and in October Hearn told Helwani he was "gonna spank" White in boxing.

February 2026: Conor Benn leaves Matchroom

The feud turned personal when Conor Benn left Matchroom for Zuffa Boxing on 20 February. Hearn said he was devastated and had misjudged Benn's character. White's reply at a UFC press conference the next night set the tone for the year: "Is there a bigger p*ssy than Eddie Hearn?" as reported by Yahoo Sports.

In March Hearn signed the UFC heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall, as the first client of a new Matchroom talent agency, and Zuffa signed a deal with Sky Sports to put on at least five UK shows a year.

April: the fight that never was

On the night of 11 April, after UFC 327, White went again: "Eddie Hearn's a p*ssy. Eddie Hearn ain't boxing anybody, f*cking posting pictures of himself hitting the f*cking speed bag." He said Turki had tried to make a fight between the two of them. Hearn accepted within days: "He called me out, I accept. I'm in. Let's find out who the real p*ssy is." A few days later, at Ben Whittaker's post-fight press conference, Hearn said: "Unfortunately, Dana White backed out of the fight."

Fury against Joshua was signed later that month.

May and June: "I'm promoting that"

In a livestream before UFC 328 in May, White said: "I'm doing the Tyson Fury-AJ fight, too. I'm promoting that." Hearn answered on Instagram: "Such a clout chaser. Not a chance and contractually impossible. Let me know when you find your balls," as reported by Boxing Insider. Frank Warren, Fury's promoter, backed Hearn at the time, saying Fury's contract also barred Zuffa.

After Zuffa's show in Bournemouth on 6 June, White said he knew where the fight would be held: "You think that I would publicly lie and then look like a f*cking idiot in front of everybody?" as reported by BoxingScene. Days later, in a clip posted by DAZN, Hearn called White "either completely deluded or the biggest compulsive liar I've ever met in my life". The contract he negotiated, he said, says White, Zuffa and TKO "can have nothing to do promotionally with the event", and that the fight must take place in the UK at the wish of Joshua and Matchroom.

July and August: Johnny Fisher, New York and a lawsuit threat

In July Johnny Fisher left Matchroom for Zuffa too. He headlines Zuffa's show at the Copper Box in London tonight.

In August, with reports that the fight was heading to Madison Square Garden on 20 November, Hearn said: "Actually, I should be suing Dana White, because what he's doing is, he's actually purporting to have the ability to stage the fight there," as reported by MiddleEasy. White's answer in Las Vegas that week: "I stopped listening to Eddie Hearn about three months ago. Is there anybody more full of sh*t than this guy?"

September: red lines and "snakes"

In early September, in Dublin, Hearn was asked if Zuffa could be involved. "No, or else there will be no fight," he said, adding that Joshua is a Matchroom shareholder and the clause was Joshua's wish, not only his. On the night of Katie Taylor's fight at Croke Park he accused TKO of going behind his back to offer Joshua more money to fight in America, as reported by The Telegraph via Yahoo Sports, and said on The Stomping Ground: "These people, these snakes, went around the back again a couple of days ago to try and lure Anthony Joshua into an American fight. TKO. They will be served with a legal letter," as reported by Boxing247.

The following week White told IFL TV he was close to walking away, and that if the fight happened "it'll be me" promoting it. "If Eddie doesn't like the way this is going down, then f*cking rip up the contract," he said, as reported by BoxingScene. On 12 September Ryan Garcia stopped Benn in two rounds in Las Vegas. Hearn replied to White that "Anthony Joshua is not a sellout", and White, after UFC 331 on 19 September, said Hearn was "drowning trying to save his f*cking business right now".

Thursday 24 September: Cardiff

The fight was announced for Cardiff. The official release said The Ring and Dana White "will collaborate to promote" it, and named neither Hearn nor Warren. Hearn told The Independent: "We expect the contracts to be honoured and unless we decide otherwise, Dana White cannot be involved in the fight," as reported by Boxing News.

To IFL TV, he said Netflix "clearly didn't get the memo", called White a "silly, soppy tit" and told him: "You've lost, mate." He also cast doubt on next week's press conference, saying there had been "about six breaches" of the contract so far: Eddie Hearn on Netflix naming Dana White. Joshua posted on Instagram: "The quietest ones often pull the strings."

Friday 25 September: "Who's going to stop me?"

Fury said his own contract had carried the same clause and that he had it removed: "I took it out so he could be involved." Fury on removing the Dana White clause.

White, in London for tonight's Zuffa show, told Sky Sports: "I'm sitting here promoting the fight right now. Who's going to stop me?" He said he was "involved on the Turki side", called someone in the talks "one whiny little crybaby" and praised Warren as a "complete stud": Dana White on Fury vs Joshua.

That night came the reports that the fight was in peril, with Crawford against Garcia among the possible replacements, and Fury's video calling Joshua and Hearn "cowards". Matchroom, Sela, The Ring and Netflix had not responded as of Friday night.

Saturday night: "That I don't know"

At the Zuffa Boxing 11 press conference in London, White was asked whether the fight will happen in December. "That I don't know. That I don't know," he said. He called Hearn "full of f*cking sh*t", said "I'm involved in the f*cking fight", and told Hearn to "finance the fight yourself", calling the situation "a whole sh*t show right now": Dana White on Hearn and Fury vs Joshua.

What to watch next

Whether the press conference goes ahead on Wednesday, and who is on the stage if it does. Our Fury vs Joshua page has every confirmed detail, including the expected UK start time, and will change as soon as anything does.

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