Dana White on Oscar De La Hoya: ‘You wanna battle? I’m your guy. Let’s do it’

Dana White is living proof that spite is one of the most powerful motivators in human history. Over the years he’s duked it out with numerous MMA and boxing promoters, unleashing profane tirades and assigning his enemies Trump-style nicknames en route to bankrupting them and buying up the remains of their companies. He got so good at it the UFC is currently enmeshed in a anti-trust lawsuit as a result.

White may have taken things down a notch in public since then, but that hasn’t stopped him from going whole hog on a new feud with Golden Boy boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

”It started with him telling people not to watch Mayweather vs. McGregor,” White recounted at the UFC 232 post-fight press conference (watch it here). “Who does that? Then he came out and basically lied about what guys had been paid, what we were paying fighters, what Chuck Liddell made, what Tito [Ortiz] made. He’s a liar. And I called him out for being a piece of s**t and a liar.”

White gave a wanking hand motion when press mentioned De La Hoya’s attempt to break into MMA promotion before claiming 2019 would be the year the UFC made big moves in boxing.

”See what we do this year. Wait til you see what happens with Oscar De La Hoya in the next three years. You guys know me, some of you have known me for a long time. You wanna battle? I’m your guy. I’m your guy. Let’s do it.”

Sadly, we don’t think that statement involved White actually getting into the boxing ring to take on De La Hoya, something Oscar has challenged Dana to do. But a battle between the promotions could have big repercussions. De La Hoya has made fighter pay central to his promotion and is trying to lure headliners in with the promise of boxing level splits on PPV revenue.

While Golden Boy’s first effort with Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz failed to move the needle, all it might take is an MMA fighter making over $10 million off an event with 350,000 PPV buys like Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury did to change the landscape dramatically. It’s no wonder White is coming out guns blazing.