“Cocaine isn’t cheap. It’s expensive. You’ve
got to make money.” – UFC President Dana White on Oscar De La Hoya
making a comeback in boxing. pic.twitter.com/SV7rCNnL5W— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA)
August 23, 2020
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Dana White has publicly feuded with Oscar De La Hoya
off-and-on in recent years and has never been shy about taking a
shot at the longtime boxing star.
The UFC president was not thrilled that De La Hoya brought former
light heavyweight champion Chuck
Liddell out of retirement when “The Iceman” suffered a
first-round knockout loss to Tito Ortiz at
Golden Boy MMA’s first — and only — event in November 2018. Prior
to the pay-per-view, De La Hoya
criticized the UFC boss for telling fighters such as Liddell
when it was time to call it a career.
“I love Chuck Liddell and I don’t ever want to bad mouth Chuck
Liddell,” White said on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast shortly after
that Golden Boy MMA event. “People even think I’m remotely bad
mouthing Chuck Liddell, but the reality is — first of all, I heard
last week the cokehead ‘Oscar De La Weirdo’ is talking s—t that I
don’t have any place to tell guys when to retire. First of all,
it’s called ‘friendship’ you f—-ing cokehead. I’ve been friends
with Chuck Liddell for 20 years and the reality is that Chuck
Liddell retired when he should have retired. Eight, nine years ago,
however long it was. And Chuck Liddell’s almost 50 years old and
has no business fighting anymore. The fact that the state of
California even let that fight happen is disgusting.
Disgusting.”
Now, it appears that De La Hoya is the one planning on coming out
of retirement in the near future. The 47-year-old former champion
confirmed to
ESPN this past week that he will step into the squared circle
once again for a “real fight,” not an exhibition. De La Hoya hasn’t
competed since a loss to Manny Pacquiao in December 2008.
“It’s a real fight,” he told ESPN. “I miss being in the ring, I
love boxing. Boxing is what gave me everything I have today, and I
just miss it.”
White was asked about De La Hoya’s announcement at Saturday’s UFC
on ESPN 15 post-fight press conference, and he once again
derisively referenced the former champion’s past issues with
substance abuse. Beyond that, White expressed little interest in De
La Hoya’s plans.
“Cocaine isn’t cheap. It’s expensive,” White said. “You’ve got to
make money.”
An opponent and a timetable for De La Hoya’s comeback fight is
currently unclear, though he has said he will begin sparring “in
the next few weeks.”
