Eddie Hearn responds to Zuffa's monstrous offer for popular Matchroom fighter

Eddie Hearn had plenty to say when asked about Zuffa Boxing's massive offer to sign one of Matchroom's most popular fighters.

Since their arrival to the sport in June 2025 by UFC CEO and President Dana White and Saudi Arabian boxing chief Turki Al-Sheikh, Zuffa boxing has certainly made a lot of noise.

In what was undoubtedly their biggest move, Zuffa signed Conor Benn, son of British boxing legend Nigel Benn, on a multi-year, multi-fight deal after his controversial move from Hearn's Matchroom boxing.

Since then both White and Hearn have been bitterly exchanging blows on social media, with the Matchroom boss hitting back by signing UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall to his new talent agency.

But it appears that White and Zuffa aren't prepared to stop at poaching Benn from Matchroom as they've also come in for one of the promotion's top heavyweight prospects in Johnny Fisher.

Fisher, who is the son of social media superstar Big John Fisher, has recently claimed that Zuffa Boxing have offered him a new deal worth six or seven times more than the proposal he received from Hearn following the end of his last contract with Matchoom.

And now, Hearn has addressed this claim, while confirming his plans for the battle for Fisher's signature.

Speaking to IFL TV, Hearn said: "I love Johnny, I love his family. He was straight up, we had a conversation and my reply will be 'swim, walk or crawl to the office ASAP and sign that contract with Zuffa Boxing before they change their mind.'

"Because I just can't pay, Zuffa could have offered half the money and we wouldn't have matched it."

Providing more details on the offer, Hearn said that Fisher has been given two or three fights against opponents that would typically place him in the middle or the co-main event of a Matchroom card, but not fights that would drive ticket sales.

And although he would like to keep the British star as a part of Matchroom's roster, Hearn simply cannot match the amount of money that Zuffa are willing to pay for that calibre of fight.

"Unfortunately those opponents, I can't put that on, we're running a business not a holiday camp, Hearn added

"Johnny can have really easy fights, for a load of money, Sign the contract!"

Confirming Fisher's claims, he added: "It's over six times more than I would pay for him to fight that opponent. Over six times. Again, if Zuffa offered half the money, we wouldn't have matched it. So, good luck to you, mate.

"I'm actually pleased for Johnny. Don't get me wrong. I love him and, you know, I don't know where his career will go."

Should he accept the deal, Fisher will follow Benn as one of the most high-profile names to leave Matchroom and join Zuffa in recent months.

Despite this, Hearn claims he isn't worried and doesn't feel threatened by the clearly huge amount of money that his rival promotion is willing to offer, stating that he simply wouldn't allow his big name fighters to be in a position to consider leaving.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful, we don't let a fighter reach the end of their contract if they're going to be a big player," Hearn said.