Dana White Doubts Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua Fight as Promotion Row Escalates

UFC president questions whether long-awaited heavyweight blockbuster will go ahead as scheduled amid bitter dispute involving Eddie Hearn.

The highly anticipated British heavyweight showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is facing fresh uncertainty, with UFC president Dana White admitting he does not know whether the fight will take place as planned.

Fury and Joshua are scheduled to meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, in what would be one of the biggest all-British heavyweight contests in recent boxing history. However, the long-awaited meeting has become embroiled in a growing promotional dispute involving White, Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh and Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn.

White, who operates Zuffa Boxing alongside Alalshikh, has been positioned as a key figure behind the event after the fight was announced as a collaboration involving Alalshikh’s The Ring and White. The contest is also set to be broadcast globally on Netflix.

But Hearn maintains that Joshua’s existing promotional agreement prevents White from taking part in the promotion of the bout.

Speaking about the dispute, White questioned whether the fight would ultimately proceed.

“I don’t know. The guy who is supposed to be helping the fight has been hurting the fight the entire time. He hasn’t done the fight any favours.”

White was also asked whether he would consider stepping aside if doing so would help resolve the impasse and allow Fury and Joshua to meet.

The UFC chief described the situation surrounding the event as a shambles and suggested that the next few days could prove decisive, with significantly more clarity expected within three or four days.

At the heart of the dispute is the role White is expected to play in promoting the event.

Hearn has repeatedly objected to White's involvement, arguing that it conflicts with Joshua’s contractual arrangements. The Matchroom Boxing chief has also criticised the way the fight's promotional structure has been handled.

“Dana White cannot be involved with this fight promotion. Netflix clearly did not get the memo. No one talks to each other,” Hearn told IFL TV.

The disagreement has intensified despite the significance of the fight itself. Fury and Joshua have spent years attempting to reach the ring, with negotiations repeatedly collapsing before the latest agreement was finally secured.

Fury has shown little sympathy for Hearn’s objections and has insisted that he has agreed to everything required from his side to make the contest happen.

“There’s nothing that I haven’t agreed to. Nothing. I’ll even tie concrete blocks to my boots to make this fight happen,” Fury said, according to FurociTV and Sherdog.

The former heavyweight champion has also credited Alalshikh and Netflix with providing the financial backing required for the event and questioned why Matchroom should have control over its promotional arrangements.

The dispute has also spilled onto social media, with Fury accusing Joshua and Hearn of putting the fight at risk.

“It is mainly to do with Eddie Hearn’s ego. He is making up a million different things and threatening that we are not going to fight,” Fury posted on Instagram.

Fury has suggested that he could move on to another opponent if Joshua ultimately withdraws from the contest.

His promoter, Frank Warren, has also defended White’s involvement, saying the UFC president played an important role in helping secure the Netflix deal.

The proposed fight was formally announced last Thursday, bringing to an end years of negotiations between the two heavyweight camps. The event is being organised around Alalshikh’s boxing operation and White’s involvement, with Netflix set to broadcast the contest.

That structure, however, has quickly become the central obstacle.

The latest disagreement comes at a particularly delicate stage of preparations.

Fury and Joshua are expected to appear together at a press conference in London on September 30, with fewer than 11 weeks remaining before their scheduled December 11 meeting.

The event would represent the culmination of a rivalry that has dominated British heavyweight boxing for years. Both men have held world heavyweight titles, although their careers have taken markedly different paths since first discussing a potential meeting.

The fight has already survived multiple false starts.

The two camps initially reached an agreement for a two-fight series in 2020. A year later, contracts were signed for an undisputed heavyweight contest, but Deontay Wilder’s arbitration case forced Fury to honour his obligation to face the American for a third time.

Another attempt was made in 2022, when Joshua accepted a reported 60-40 financial split in Fury’s favour. Those negotiations nevertheless collapsed.

After years of failed talks, Fury and Joshua finally signed for the Cardiff contest earlier this year.

Now, with the fight less than three months away, the focus has shifted from whether the two heavyweights can finally agree to meet to whether the promotional dispute can be resolved in time.

For a contest that has already endured years of negotiations and repeated setbacks, the latest disagreement has introduced another unexpected threat to one of boxing’s most anticipated heavyweight encounters.