Dana White Blasts Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya

Zuffa boss unloads on promoters and WBC after Las Vegas card

Dana White used the Zuffa Boxing 3 press conference to target Eddie Hearn, Oscar De La Hoya, and the WBC by name. Three shows into his launch, he is openly challenging the sport’s established power structure.

“There hasn’t been any pushback,” White said. “This is like beating up babies. I feel like I came in and I’m beating up babies. I expected more. I expected some pushback. I expected them to be more game.”

He kept the pressure on.

“They’re all way out of their league. Like absolutely, positively out of their league. I’m actually a little shocked.”

White’s focus then shifted to Hearn, who criticised Zuffa’s decision to introduce its own titles.

“I saw Eddie Hearn saying the belt is cringey and all this stuff,” White said. “I don’t think anybody looks at Eddie Hearn and says ‘oh this guy’s a visionary.’ The guy’s been in boxing forever. I look at him like most politicians. You’ve done nothing in the sport except stay in the lane and play by all the rules, you ended up becoming part of the problem is what happened.”

This is promoter warfare delivered in straight lines. No feints.

White also took aim at De La Hoya while discussing the chatter around Zuffa’s launch.

“They don’t stop talking, the WBC and Eddie Hearn and all this shit that Oscar De La Hoya talks,” White said. “We all know De La Hoya is mentally ill. The guy’s talking all this shit and his place is in foreclosure, he’s suing his fighter to try to stay with him. Has he done a clapback Thursday recently? I would love to see an episode of clapback Thursday this Thursday from Oscar De La Hoya.”

The sanctioning bodies were not spared either.

“I said what I was going to do. I never said anything bad about the WBC or the IBF or any of them. I just said I’m not going to do business with them. I’m going to do my own thing.”

Then came the sharpest dig of the afternoon.

“We’re three fights in and people are asking all these questions and this Sulaimán guy is incredible,” White said. “He is incredible. He’s the greatest PR guy for how f*d up boxing is of all time. He’s incredible.”

Inside boxing, belts, rankings, and promotional alliances usually control the ring positioning. Mandatories get called, contenders circle, and everyone stays in their lane. White is stepping off that grid, building his own route to a title and refusing to fight under the alphabet banner.

That approach only stands up if the roster has depth and the matchmaking holds firm under pressure. You can talk a good fight in a press room, but the proof comes when your heavyweights start sharing the ring with real punchers.

Right now he is throwing verbal combinations and pressing the action. The real test comes when established promoters plant their feet, fire back, and force Zuffa to show its balance under sustained pressure.