Eddie Hearn Calls Zuffa Boxing 'Absolute Bollocks' as Opetaia Loses Belts
Matchroom's Eddie Hearn says Zuffa Boxing fighters are not getting what they were promised, pointing to Jai Opetaia's belt situation.
Eddie Hearn is not holding back on Zuffa Boxing. The Matchroom promoter told The Stomping Ground that fighters who signed with Dana White's boxing venture are finding out the hard way that the promises do not match reality.
"It's absolute bollocks, total bollocks," Hearn said, per Bad Left Hook.
Hearn's primary example was cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who signed with Zuffa with the stated goal of becoming undisputed. Instead, Opetaia has watched his belt situation deteriorate. He was stripped of his IBF title, and his fight against David Mikaelian was not sanctioned by the WBC because Mikaelian had a prior obligation to David Benavidez. Opetaia won the fight but ended up with fewer belts than when he started.
Zuffa Boxing has publicly stated it will not work with major sanctioning bodies' belts, a position that puts its fighters in a difficult spot when they arrive chasing unified or undisputed status.
The comments add fuel to an ongoing war of words between Hearn and White. White recently laughed off fighters choosing Matchroom over Zuffa, while former UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev fired back at White's dismissiveness. Now Hearn is flipping the script, arguing that Zuffa's own fighters are the ones losing out.
Whether Hearn is genuinely concerned about Zuffa fighters' wellbeing or simply enjoying a rival's stumbles is an open question. But the Opetaia situation gives him a concrete example that is hard to argue with.
Eddie Hearn is a salesman, so I take his outrage with a grain of salt. But on Opetaia he is right, and that is what makes this sting. Jai went to Zuffa to become undisputed. He got stripped of the IBF belt, the WBC would not sanction the Mikaelian fight, and he walked out of a win with fewer titles than he walked in with. You cannot spin that.
Zuffa saying it will not play ball with the sanctioning bodies is a defensible long-term position. The UFC built an empire on one belt per division. But boxing is not there yet, and the fighters who signed up for the ride are paying the tab while the promotion fights that war.
Hearn versus Dana is going to be entertaining for years. Just remember who is actually losing here. It is not either promoter. It is the cruiserweight who did everything asked of him and got less for it.
