Eddie Hearn reveals talks with UFC boss Dana White over Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk date clash

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Eddie Hearn has revealed that UFC president Dana White messaged him about a potential clash of timings between Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk and this summer’s UFC London event.

Following a hugely successful Fight Night in the English capital in March, which Hearn attended, the UFC is returning just four months later for a card on 23 July.

That is the date on which Joshua vs Usyk II is expected to take place, and “AJ”’s promoter Hearn opened up on a conversation he had with White about a potential scheduling clash.

“Dana messaged me two days ago and said: ‘Look, are you going July 23?’ I said: ‘Possibly,’” Hearn told The Mac Life.

“He said: ‘We’re going 23 July in London, would you want me to move it? What do you think?’”

UFC London will again be held in the O2 Arena. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is looking like the probable location for Joshua’s rematch with Usyk. Joshua lost his heavyweight belts to the unbeaten Ukrainian at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September.

Hearn continued: “[Dana and I have] got a good relationship and I’m sure he’s not thinking about our business, but he’s being courteous.

UFC president Dana White has a good relationship with Hearn (Getty Images)

“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.”