Dana White says Fury-Joshua was due to be announced at White House UFC event

Dana White has said Tyson Fury’s fight with Anthony Joshua was supposed to be announced during Fury’s appearance at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House lawn in June.

Fury was given his own walkout at the June 14 event and told UFC broadcaster Jon Anik that a “massive, massive, massive announcement” was coming. Nothing was confirmed that night, but White has now said the plan had been to announce the Joshua fight.

Asked by Pat McAfee why the announcement did not happen, White said: “Yeah. Fckery [happened]. A lot of fckery has gone on since then. And here we are. We finally got here. We have tickets on sale. Tickets did well. So it’s been interesting, but I knew these types of things were going to happen when I got involved in the sport of boxing.”

Fury’s appearance had prompted speculation that he was joining White’s Zuffa Boxing operation. At the post-event press conference, White was asked whether Fury would sign with Zuffa and replied: “We’ll make an announcement soon.”

Spencer Brown, Fury’s manager, later denied that a Zuffa contract had been signed. Brown said Frank Warren remained Fury’s promoter, Turki Alalshikh continued to underwrite his fights and Alalshikh had arranged the White House visit.

Before the event, Fury posted a video celebrating his return to the United States and credited Alalshikh with making the trip possible. Alalshikh welcomed Fury back and indicated that news about a Joshua fight was forthcoming.

The trip was widely reported as Fury’s first US visit since his third fight with Deontay Wilder in October 2021. In June 2022, he was refused permission to board a US-bound flight from Manchester Airport.

That incident was reported at the time as being connected to his links with Daniel Kinahan and followed sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on the Kinahan organised crime group, its leadership and associated businesses. The circumstances under which Fury was subsequently cleared to travel have not been publicly explained.

Why the fight went to Cardiff

The abandoned White House launch was followed by a dispute over where Fury–Joshua would be staged. White favoured Madison Square Garden, with November 20 discussed as a possible date in New York, while Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn insisted the fight should take place in Britain under the terms of Joshua’s contract.

Hearn subsequently said Joshua had turned down more than £10 million to keep the contest in Britain. Wembley Stadium was considered, but its 11pm curfew did not accommodate the late start wanted for Netflix’s US audience. The Principality Stadium in Cardiff, which has a retractable roof and greater flexibility over timings, was eventually chosen for December 11.

The Cardiff date was announced on September 24, although White and Hearn continued to disagree publicly over White’s role. Hearn challenged Netflix’s description of White as a co-promoter, citing contractual restrictions, before White raised doubts over whether the fight and its launch press conference would go ahead. The press conference proceeded in London on September 30.

Speaking to McAfee on October 13, White maintained that he was directly involved and pointed to strong ticket sales.

“We’re promoting and producing the fight,” White said. “It’s at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and I’m excited that I get to be there. It’s basically already sold out. I haven’t looked today yet, but when we launched tickets on sale, it was less than 700 left, which is basically considered a sellout. So it just goes to show that people are interested and care about this fight.”

White nevertheless acknowledged that Hearn had prevailed in the venue dispute, with Warren also involved in the promotion.

“Listen, whatever’s happened between me and Eddie Hearn—Frank Warren is also involved in this fight—the fight sold out,” White said. “Listen, Eddie pushed hard for this thing to be in the U.K. I was trying to do it in MSG. It’s in the U.K. and sold out an 80,000-seat stadium.”

The December 11 event is scheduled to run overnight in Cardiff to accommodate Netflix’s American audience. White continues to describe himself as involved in its promotion and production, despite Hearn’s objections during the negotiations.