Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, went public through Ring Magazine with a plan to unite boxing under a single structure. He wanted to host a peace summit with Dana White, Eddie Hearn, Nick Khan, Frank Warren, and DAZN executives to end the sport’s promotional wars.
But things seemed to go in the wrong direction. White dismissed the premise entirely, while Hearn stated he would rather keep competing. And just like that, the most ambitious peace summit in combat sports since Don King shook hands with Bob Arum was dead on arrival.
Dana White Rejects the Premise and Puts Eddie Hearn in His Place
The bitter rivalry between White and Hearn began earlier this year when the UFC boss officially entered the boxing world by launching Zuffa Boxing, which just completed its eighth overall installment in the promotion’s history. Saudi Arabia’s financial power reportedly backed him, which effectively disrupted the established boxing landscape, threatening Matchroom Boxing’s market dominance.
Eventually, their bitter rivalry turned personal. White publicly mocked Hearn, claiming the Matchroom chairman lacked true vision and was simply “working for his dad,” Barry Hearn. Hearn immediately fired back, stating that White had spent his entire career working for his own “daddies” — first the Fertitta brothers, and now Turki Alalshikh.
The corporate cold war escalated into an aggressive promotional battle. Zuffa Boxing successfully poached and signed undefeated star Conor Benn, one of Hearn’s most high-profile fighters. In retaliation, Hearn signed a major management and advisory deal with UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, directly invading White’s MMA territory.
This deep, chaotic animosity is exactly what prompted Turki Alalshikh to try and broker his failed peace summit. White rejected the idea that his rivalry with other boxing promoters is personal, stating, “I don’t hate Eddie Hearn. I like Frank Warren. I don’t have any problem with any of these guys, but we’re going to compete.”
However, that’s the only good part, because after that, the UFC boss made it clear that he doesn’t even put Hearn in the same weight class as his actual competition.
“I don’t know what our issues would be. I’m good. If Eddie was here I’d talk to Eddie, I don’t have any problems,” White said. “The competitors that I look at as competition right now are the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. None of these other guys matter to me, none of them on either side on MMA or boxing.”
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The Matchroom head didn’t take the insult lightly.
Eddie Hearn Has No Interest in Peace Talks with Dana White
Speaking on talkSPORT, Hearn made it clear he has zero interest in a staged unity photo op. “It’s not just a case of us having a photo with all our hands in the middle,” Hearn said. “I want to see who’s the best.”
He added, “All this talk about peace talks, I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t want peace talks. I want war talks because I had 15 years of war, and it was the greatest time of my career.”
Alalshikh holds major financial stakes on both sides of this rivalry. His state-backed entities own 60 percent of Zuffa Boxing, while Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund holds a 10 percent stake in Matchroom’s broadcast partner, DAZN. This overlap complicates any genuine resolution, regardless of what anyone says publicly.
