Done deal: Ryan Garcia to defend 147 title vs. Conor Benn on Sept. 12
Card will stream on Paramount+ globally except for U.K. and Ireland, where it will be shown via DAZN PPV
Ryan Garcia will make his first WBC welterweight title defense against Conor Benn on Sept. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a long-expected fight bogged down by contract issues between warring factions but finally signed by all involved and announced on Wednesday.
The Ring magazine event spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, who owns The Ring, and Sela, will stream globally on Paramount+ with the exception of Benn’s home country of the United Kingdom, as well as Ireland, where it will be available via DAZN pay-per-view.
The broadcast situation, as well as getting Garcia promoter Golden Boy and Benn’s new promoter, Zuffa Boxing, to work together was difficult and acrimonious. Besides the never-ending issues between Golden Boy and Garcia, Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya and Zuffa Boxing promoter Dana White despise each other and have relentlessly verbally attacked each other for months.
In late May, Mexican-American Garcia appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and told host Jimmy Fallon he was next facing Benn on Sept. 12 — Mexican Independence Day weekend — in Las Vegas. However, the deal was still far from finalized.
Several sources involved told Fight Freaks Unite that the fight was due to be formally announced this past Friday at the ceremonial weigh-in for the UFC card headlined by the Max Holloway-Conor McGregor rematch at T-Mobile Arena – UFC and Zuffa Boxing are sister companies both run by White – but they still were not able to get everything finalized. That announcement was canceled even though Garcia, Benn, members of their teams and the Zuffa Boxing media relations staff was on hand.
But the deal is done now, in part because Golden Boy and DAZN, its streaming partner, signed off on the bout being on Paramount+ in exchange for financial considerations and because Garcia extended his deal with them for at least one more fight — which, along with the Benn bout, will be co-promoted by Ryan Garcia Promotions — sources involved told Fight Freaks Unite.
Garcia-Benn, a fight matching two major names but both of whom have been tainted by positive performance-enhancing drug tests and subsequent punishments, will be by far the highest-profile fight Zuffa Boxing, which is backed by Alalshikh and Sela, will have put on since its partnership with Paramount+ kicked off in January.
The match also marks a change of course for White, who has previously vowed not to work with other promoters or the sanctioning organizations.
“This is such a great fight,” White said. “Conor Benn has won 26 of his 27 professional fights and is coming off a big win in the U.K. earlier this year. Ryan Garcia is one of the biggest stars in boxing and a world champion. These guys are in their prime, and it’s a fight they’ve both wanted for a long time.”
De La Hoya posted a video also announcing the fight.
“It’s on, baby,” De La Hoya said. “After long negotiations, Ryan Garcia versus Conor Benn is a done deal. Golden Boy Promotions and Sela made it happen. It’s the fight Ryan asked for.”
Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs), 27, of Los Angeles, will return to T-Mobile Arena, the site of his biggest win and biggest loss. In his last fight on Feb. 21, he dropped Mario Barrios in the first round and cruised to a near-shutout decision to win the 147-pound title. It is also the same arena where he got knocked out in the seventh-round by a Gervonta Davis body shot in their 136-pound blockbuster event in April 2023.
Benn (25-1, 14 KOs), 29, the son of British legend Nigel Benn, a two-division titleholder, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month, has long coveted a shot at a WBC title because his father held the WBC super middleweight belt from1992 to 1996.
Benn suffered his lone loss via decision in April 2025 in the fight of the year when he moved up to middleweight for a massively hyped grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr. in a continuation of the family feud stoked by the two memorable world title fights their fathers had in the 1990s. Conor Benn avenged his loss with a one-sided decision victory in the immediate rematch with Eubank Jr. in November.
Benn followed up by returning to welterweight for a lopsided 10-round decision over former two-time junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis in a one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing in April in London in the co-feature of the Tyson Fury-Arslanbek Makhmudov fight on Netflix. Soon after that win Benn signed a five-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing.
Immediately after beating Prograis, Benn called out Garcia.
“Ryan Garcia next. I want a WBC world title,” Benn said in the ring at the time. “That’s what I’ve been dreaming of and working hard toward for the past 10 years. He can get it next and get a better version of me.”
They have gone back and forth on social media since, as they did again on Wednesday.
“You talk too much. I’m gonna smash your head in,” Benn wrote to Garcia.
Garcia’s reply: “I told you in person you aren’t a good enough fighter to beat me. “You forced your self in this position. I will show the lesson of rushing into something you just aren’t ready for.”
Garcia also showed appreciation toward his team for getting the complicated deal finalized.
“Big thank you to my partners at DAZN for being extremely helpful to making this happen,” Garcia wrote. “Also of course to HE (His Excellency Alalshikh) and the whole Ring magazine team!!! The way everyone came together to make this huge fight happen is amazing and boxing needs more of it!”
ANNOUNCED: Ryan Garcia will defend his WBC welterweight world title against Conor Benn on September 12th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Live globally on Paramount+ and exclusively on DAZN in the UK and Ireland 