It wasn’t always like this, but Eddie Hearn says boxing is on fire right now and UFC is the ‘poor relative’. How times change in the fight game.
Every year it seems the doomsayers predict the final demise of the noble art, but it is arguably now stronger than ever thanks to the enormous investment from Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, led by Turki Alalshikh.
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In the past 12 months we have had two incredible Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk showdowns, Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois in front of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium and a pair of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol blockbusters. Soon, on September 12, we’ll get Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford in a match that has everybody talking.
UFC by comparison is lacking the star power it once had – long gone are the days when Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey were blazing a trail for MMA’s biggest franchise.
Hearn on boxing vs UFC in 2025
Hearn is riding high now on the back of that incredible Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn thriller in front of 65,000 fans at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and he believes the balance of power in fight sports has absolutely shifted in recent years.
He told Ariel Helwani: “Boxing right now… I mean, MMA… it’s a poor relative. You know, like, and it’s never really been that way. Listen, I’ll never criticise UFC. I think it’s an unbelievable brand. But it’s not their fault, really, what’s happening. I’m sure people will feel like they could have done some things different.
“It’s all cyclical, and obviously with Turki Alalshikh’s investments, Saudi Arabia’s investment in boxing, you’re seeing bigger fights, bigger nights, but also: more thinking outside the box. And that comes really with spending money. I mean you look at these promos, at the closing of Times Square.
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“You know this weekend, on DAZN, you’ve got Friday night in Times Square, with Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez. 24 hours later, you’ve got Canelo Álvarez’s debut in Saudi Arabia for the Undisputed Championship. That’s within 24 hours. You’re just coming off the back of 65,000 people at Spurs.
“Like, boxing’s on fire right now. On fire. It’s controlling all the narrative digitally, across social media, on a far different level to MMA and UFC right now. And I’m just, you know, I’m delighted to be a part of it.”
Hearn also believes his strategy of making every show and every event unique, rather than a more ‘rinse and repeat’ approach from UFC, is key to keeping things exciting.
Telling stories vs rinse and repeat
“You know, well I said, that’s what UFC do. I said yeah, but for me, I’m a storyteller. Right? So every show has a narrative. It’s not, this is not “Matchroom 36,” no. This is ‘Boots’ Ennis against Stanionis, back at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, making history in the unification welterweight matchup for the Ring Magazine Championship where the former winners were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Floyd Mayweather. Do you know what I mean?
“I need that artwork, and the press conference, and the promo, to reflect the story that I’m telling. And that’s what we’re seeing at the moment, do you know what I mean, where it’s different. Because sometimes it does get monotonous – Oh, it’s another show, Oh, who’s on this week. And then all of a sudden, you’ve got Benn/Eubank and like this crazy video game advert and then the fathers here, and then next week you’re shutting down Times Square. The product, while it’s the same sport, it’s different every week.”
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Hearn reflected further on what he believes is the current state of UFC, and perhaps what is needed to give it fresh impetus.
Is UFC a tired product?
“There’s a saying, and this is not reflective of the UFC at all, but sometimes it can be reflective of a product in general. “Polishing a turd”. This is what the UK, what we say in the UK, right? Which means that you take something, give it a polish. Turd is probably not the right reflection for the UFC, because it’s a brilliant product.
“But you just, you’ve got to revamp it a little bit, you’ve got to remodel it. And sometimes you did that if the talent wasn’t quite there, you needed a different look and a fresher look. LIke if they had, I don’t know, Conor McGregor fighting, if Khabib was still around, a bit of casual, forgive me – but if Aspinall was fighting Jon Jones, you know, we wouldn’t be sitting here saying, ‘It’s a bit tired, isn’t it’.
“It’s really down to the actual product, which is the fights. And I just feel like they haven’t got – like if you said to me now, ‘Name me six UFC superstars’, I couldn’t do it. I could give you the ones that seem to keep losing quite a bit, and then just came back, do you know what I mean? But again, was that just a period with Khabib and Conor, and like, those kinds of guys.”
