Eddie Hearn has revealed that his talks with UFC president Dana White after Anthony Joshua's rematch with Oleksandr Usyk might clash with the upcoming UFC London event. The pair are due to rematch on July 23 in Saudi Arabia with Usyk having defeated Joshua in September of last year. The fight has been in the works ever since that fight.
And just last week, the UFC confirmed that they will return to London on July 23 after a successful March 19 card.
In September, Joshua was comfortably defeated via points in the first meeting, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Usyk stripping Joshua of his three titles. It looked like Usyk would be forced to pull out of the upcoming heavyweight clash, when he returned to his home country of Ukraine to join the fight against the invading Russia. But the fight is now on with Usyk back on training.
ALSO READ: When is Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk 2? Date and venue for heavyweight fight
And with July 23 already earmarked as a date for the bout, the UFC announced that they will go ahead with their card on the same, likely to be at the 02 Arena.
But there's no hard feelings between promoters Eddie Hearn and Dana White, as the former has revealed talks between the two ahead of the respective events.
Eddie Hearn told The Mac Life: "Dana messaged me two days ago and said: ‘Look, are you going July 23?’ I said: ‘Possibly.
"He said: ‘We’re going 23 July in London, would you want me to move it? What do you think?’ [Dana and I have] got a good relationship and I’m sure he’s not thinking about our business, but he’s being courteous.
"I said: ‘If we go then it will be 9pm main event, because that date would be a Middle East date.’ He said that it’s so hard to get a venue, which it is. I said: ‘Do your thing, whatever you need to do.’ We’re not confirmed for 23 July; if we do go 23 July then we will speak to Dana and make sure the bulks of the main events don’t clash, and it’s good to have that relationship.
"He asked me about Canelo [Alvarez vs Dmitry Bivol on 7 May] and there’s a UFC event [the same night]. Is there a conversation to be had there?
"I remember when Canelo boxed last time and Dana had it on his laptop, there was a big furore online about who is going first. It kind of adds to the occasion. They can’t run their business worrying about us and vice versa. I don’t look at the UFC schedule.
"If there was a Conor McGregor fight or something huge… there is crossover between the two audiences, but I don’t feel like it is the same audience."
Tom Aspinall is once again set to headline UFC London, with Darren Till also confirmed on the card.
