Dana White stated that there’s no way he and Oscar De La Hoya could ever rekindle their friendship.
For the last several years, White and De La Hoya repeatedly have been at each other’s throats in the media. White repeatedly called De La Hoya an offensive litany, but De La Hoya responded by repeatedly challenging White for a fight.
Earlier this year, however, De La Hoya extended an olive branch to White, apologizing for his side of the feud and suggesting they could work together on future business endeavors. White has not yet made peace with De La Hoya but he is open to making amends.
“De La Hoya apologized sincerely, but I don’t think we can be best friends ever again,” White stated during a FanQ&A with GQ Sports . “He and I were actually friends. His fights were always a highlight of my life. His fights were something I enjoyed. His fights were something I promoted. That guy did way too much damage for us to ever be friends again. I appreciate his apology. I get it. We’re cool, but we’re never going to be that cool.”
White and De La Hoya have been beef since Conor McGregor’s fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., which White and the UFC co-promoted. Prior to that, White and De La Hoya were on good terms, and De La Hoya was a supporter of the UFC. But De La Hoya blasted Mayweather-McGregor matchup as “disrespecting the sport of boxing,” which led to White attacking De La Hoya.
Things were only exacerbated when De La Hoya moved into the MMA space, promoting a trilogy bout between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell that really drew White’s ire. De La Hoya is no longer involved in MMA, although he has been a prominent boxing promoter and White often expressing an interest in boxing, a joint venture in the boxing arena could be a good idea.
There’s just one problem: White sounds like he’s done with boxing as well.
” Every time I decide to try boxing I think, “Have you lost your f ****** mind?” Am I crazy? White asked why he would ever consider getting involved in such a corrupt and insane, f up sport. Then I get up and jump for a bit, then I think again. Literally just started thinking about it a month ago, got on the phone with a couple boxing guys, hung up the phone and said, ‘Have I lost my f****** mind again? How could I possibly want to do business with these men ?'”
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White originally planned to launch Zuffa Boxing in October of 2019,, but the venture never took root. White stated earlier this year that he had abandoned the idea , for now.
