DAZN sent Dana White a cease-and-desist after talks about Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn, according to Eddie Hearn, escalating a fight that was already running into broadcast rights problems. Hearn said the warning came three or four days before his comments and was tied to Garcia’s exclusive contract with DAZN.
The dispute matters because it goes to the heart of whether the fight can be made at all. Hearn said White had already received two cease-and-desists, one from Golden Boy and Oscar de la Hoya and then one from DAZN, after unauthorized negotiations over Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn. That leaves White and Zuffa Boxing trying to push ahead while two separate rights holders are drawing a line around Garcia.
Hearn said the arrangement would need Golden Boy and Oscar de la Hoya to come in as co-promoters if the bout is ever going to happen. That is the part White has been brushing past while becoming more aggressive about his place in boxing, even as he publicly mocked DAZN and said nobody watches it in the United States. Hearn’s answer was blunt: White cannot simply talk the fight into existence when Garcia is under contract and another promoter is already involved.
There is precedent for that kind of cross-platform deal, and Hearn leaned on it to make the point. He said Katie Taylor boxed on Netflix twice after negotiation with DAZN, and that Anthony Joshua also fought Jake Paul on Netflix after similar discussions. His argument was not that this fight is impossible, but that it has to be negotiated properly before anyone starts acting as if the paperwork does not matter.
The friction is that White has been selling force while Hearn is talking process. Hearn said the UFC CEO and the brains behind Zuffa Boxing are attracting “a different lawsuit every week” in boxing, a sign that the sport is meeting the same aggressive style with legal resistance. The public shot at DAZN only sharpened that clash, especially because Hearn said the UFC has broadcast contracts with DAZN in key international markets.
That leaves the proposed Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn fight in a narrow lane. Tommy Fury fought Eddie Hall in a heavyweight exhibition bout on Saturday in Manchester, England, but this one is already being tested by contracts, co-promotion and cease-and-desist letters before a date has even been set. For now, the unanswered question is whether White and Zuffa Boxing will negotiate their way through the rights barriers or keep hitting them head-on.
