Hearn Eyes MMA Expansion

Eddie Hearn announced his intention to expand beyond the boxing ring and into the cage, claiming the UFC has become “boring.

The catalyst followed when White secured a $15 million fight agreement for Benn to make his Zuffa Boxing debut. Hearn admitted that losing Benn—a fighter he had represented for a decade—was “painful”. Following the Benn deal, several UFC stars, including Sean O’Malley and Israel Adesanya, publicly questioned why they weren’t seeing similar eight-figure paydays despite the UFC’s record-breaking $7.7 billion Paramount deal.

Hearn didn’t wait long to strike back. He officially launched the Matchroom Talent Agency, with UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall as its flagship client. Hearn has been vocal about Aspinall’s current earnings, famously claiming he “nearly fell off his chair” upon seeing the champion’s purses. Hearn revealed that his phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the Aspinall announcement. He claims “roughly a dozen” top-tier UFC fighters have reached out to discuss moving their representation to Matchroom.

Hearn Reacts

“It’s something we’re looking at, but I want to get it right. I don’t understand the sport enough yet. With the signing of Tom Aspinall, I’m able to understand the fighters, look at the contracts. I can go to a broadcast [partner] now and sign a $10 million MMA deal, but I want to get it right, I want it to be a success, and done in the right way.

“There’s a real chance that [Matchroom] could be signing, by the summer, 5-6 of the biggest names in the UFC. The biggest problem that the UFC has is that they’re not driving the profiles, personalities, and storylines of these fighters. I’m not saying that Jake Paul’s card is the best of the best, but all of the people on the card are massive names, with big personalities that you know!

“And then you have Conor McGregor sitting there, the biggest star in the sport, sitting there…if Conor Benn’s getting $15 million, then what’s the Mac getting?” Hearn continued. “I say $100 million! These are the personalities that are dying in the UFC,” Hearn said