Dana White wanted to announce Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua at UFC White House, but “f*ckery” got in the way

Tyson Fury wasn’t at the UFC White House just for fun, at least, says Dana White.

In December, Fury finally faced Anthony Joshua in a boxing match that became the central talking point of the combat sports world, both for the fight itself and the battle between White and Eddie Hearn over White’s involvement in the event.

Although it looked at one point as if it could completely shake up the fight, it appears that all parties have smoothed things over and the fight will continue. Speaking to Pat McAfee on Tuesday, White confirmed this and reiterated his involvement in the fight.

“We promote and produce the fight,” White said. “It’s at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and I’m delighted to be there. In fact, it’s already sold out. I haven’t looked yet today, but when we launched ticket sales there were less than 700 left, which is basically considered a full house. So that shows that people are interested and care about this fight.”

This summer, the UFC hosted arguably its biggest event ever, UFC Freedom 250 from the South Lawn of the White House. The one-off special event attracted many celebrities, including Fury, who even had a brief speaking segment on camera, where many expected Fury to officially announce the match with Joshua; however, this did not happen, leading to a slightly awkward moment. But White revealed that originally the plan was to announce the fight there, until other unspecified factors got in the way.

“Yeah. Some bullshit (happened). A lot of bullshit has happened since then,” White said. “And here we are. We’re finally here. We have tickets on sale. The tickets have been doing well. So it was interesting, but I knew these kinds of things were going to happen when I got involved in the sport of boxing.”

Besides White’s involvement in the fight, the biggest obstacle was location. Joshua and Hearn insisted that the fight take place in the United Kingdom, while White, who is not representing any fighter in the fight, pushed for Madison Square Garden. In the end, Joshua and Hearn won this conflict, and even White had to recognize how successful the move was for the promotion.

“Look, if you’ve never seen a fight in the UK, I mean, the time of sporting events in the UK is just different. It’s the biggest heavyweight fight ever in England, so I expect it to be really special live. …

“It’s just one of those things where the generational guys are finally fighting, and it’s going to be divided. There will be AJ fans, Fury fans, and I guarantee you the arena will be electric that night. It’s a lot of fun. …Look, no matter what happened between me and Eddie Hearn – Frank Warren is also involved in this fight – the fight was a sellout. Look, Eddie insisted that this thing take place in the UK, I was trying to do it at MSG It’s in the UK and the 80,000 seat stadium is sold out.

“And like I said, I honestly believe Madison Square Garden is a five hour flight from the UK. That would have also sold out immediately and the energy would have been the same. Because I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Irish people come for a Conor McGregor fight, it’s absolutely crazy. The Ricky Hatton fights in Vegas were crazy. The UK is a fun, fun place for sport.”

Fury vs. Joshua takes place on December 11.