{"id":803815,"date":"2026-03-04T16:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/803815\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T16:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:53:17","slug":"eddie-hearn-claims-conor-benn-offered-him-money-to-keep-quiet-over-his-controversial-decision-to-defect-to-bitter-rival-dana-whites-zuffa-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/803815\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn claims Conor Benn offered him money to keep quiet over his controversial decision to defect to bitter rival Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By CHARLOTTE DALY, MULTIMEDIA CONTENT REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 07:44 EST, 4 March 2026 | Updated: 11:17 EST, 4 March 2026 <\/p>\n

Eddie Hearn<\/a> has claimed that Conor Benn<\/a> offered him money to avoid speaking negatively about their split after the British boxer signed a blockbuster deal with Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n

Benn’s decision to leave Hearn’s Matchroom stable after a decade together came as a surprise within the industry, with the 29-year-old agreeing terms on what has been widely reported as a $15million one-fight deal with the new promotional venture headed up by Dana White<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hearn, who guided Benn from his professional debut at 19 and oversaw his rise to world-level contention, admitted he was ‘devastated’ by the departure. He also revealed he was given just three days to match the offer – which he felt was ‘completely unreasonable commercially’.<\/p>\n

Despite Benn publicly insisting he would still like a relationship with his former promoter and even suggesting there could be a place for him within his team, Hearn says part of the exit discussions left him stunned and disappointed in his former star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to iFL TV about the way in which Benn handled the situation, Hearn said: ‘There was something else which was, “We’ll give you a few quid if you don’t say anything bad”, kind of thing.<\/p>\n

‘And I was like, What? “We still want to work with you and here’s a few quid”.<\/p>\n

\"Hearn <\/p>\n

Hearn has claimed Benn offered him money to avoid speaking negatively about their split\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Benn <\/p>\n

Benn announced he had jumped ship to Dana White’s promotional company Zuffa Boxing\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘And I’m just like\u2026 so I’ve received it and it’s gone to Frank Smith and Shaun Palmer, who we’re kind of the main operators within the business.<\/p>\n

‘And we’re all then straight on like, “Have you seen that? Are they f***ing having a laugh?” Everyone was just completely shocked.’<\/p>\n

Hearn also expressed frustration at how the communication was handled, revealing he first learned of developments formally through Benn’s legal team rather than directly from the fighter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said: ‘I text Conor maybe four or five days later and said, “I really think we should have a call. For everything that I’ve done for you, I don’t think it’s fair that I should have to deal with a letter from your lawyer. Let’s just have a chat”.<\/p>\n

‘Basically, man to man. And he said, “I heard you were quite emotional on the call. I think we should just let it all die down and talk another time”.<\/p>\n

‘I’m like, “f*** me”. And that was probably the moment where I just thought I cannot believe on the believe.’<\/p>\n

While reiterating that he respects any fighter’s right to maximise their earning potential, Hearn insisted his issue was not financial.<\/p>\n

‘To be honest, I think people get it a little bit mixed up between a fighter shouldn’t be denied an opportunity to make a load of money for their family and all this kind of stuff,’ he said.<\/p>\n

\"Benn's <\/p>\n

Benn’s decision to leave Hearn’s Matchroom stable after a decade together came as a surprise\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Conor <\/p>\n

Conor Benn will fight Regis Prograis on April 11 on the same card as the returning Tyson Fury<\/p>\n

‘I couldn’t agree more. This is not about that. This is just the way that you act to someone that has done so much for you and has basically saved your career.<\/p>\n

‘And if you listen to the Conor Benn story, I don’t want to say saved his life, but the people who were there for him like that \u2013 which you can count on one hand \u2013 played a massive part in that.<\/p>\n

‘So to forget them or to treat them with disloyalty for me is unforgivable.’<\/p>\n

Benn’s next bout is scheduled for April 11 in a 150lb catchweight clash against former 140lb world champion Regis Prograis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is coming off two high-profile contests with Chris Eubank Jr and remains highly ranked at welterweight as he prepares to begin the next chapter of his career under new promotional leadership.<\/p>\n

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\n Eddie Hearn claims Conor Benn offered him money to keep quiet over his controversial decision to defect to bitter rival Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By CHARLOTTE DALY, MULTIMEDIA CONTENT REPORTER Published: 07:44 EST, 4 March 2026 | Updated: 11:17 EST, 4 March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,21610,92,4778,12434,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-803815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-conor-benn","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-dana-white","12":"tag-eddie-hearn","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116171952400400343","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}