Oscar De La Hoya has explained why he didn’t attend Ryan
Garcia’s victory over Conor Benn, drawing a response from
Dana
White.
Garcia stopped Benn in the second round of their WBC welterweight
title bout on Sept. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. De La Hoya,
who previously said he’d attend the event, was notably absent on
fight night despite having a seat and VIP access.
Advertisement
Dana White disputes Oscar De La Hoya’s reason for skipping Ryan
Garcia vs. Conor Benn
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, De La Hoya said he chose not to attend
because he believed he would be embarrassed at the event, which was
co-promoted by White’s Zuffa Boxing and De La Hoya’s Golden Boy
Promotions.
“I wasn’t going to show up to be embarrassed,” De La Hoya told
Fight Hub TV. “It was a Zuffa f*cking event. A ‘Zuffa event,’ a
‘Turki event’ [doing quotation marks with his hands]. I was not
going to show up and be embarrassed, because that’s exactly what
they were going to do to me. I was not going to do that. So, I made
the wise decision to not go. It would have been embarrassing. It
would have created distractions. It would have been a mess.”
White has since disputed De La Hoya’s claims. Speaking after the
latest episode of
Dana White’s Contender Series, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO said he wouldn’t treat an
adversary in that fashion.
“I would never do that,” White said after
Week 9 of DWCS Season 10. “Listen, my dislike for Oscar De La
Hoya is very well known. He knows it, I know it, and it’s mutual.
But I am the type of person who would call and say, ‘Don’t even try
and show up to this f*cking fight. You’re not welcome.’ I would
never have somebody show up to an event and do that.”
Dana White says he would never set up Oscar
De La Hoya like Vince McMahon did to him for Ronda
Rousey’s first wrestling match: „I flew to f*cking New Orleans,
showed up at will call, and they said they had no tickets. … I
wouldn’t do that to even an enemy.“ https://t.co/4gHThIPyjf— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting)
October 7, 2026