If Ryan Garcia gets to fight Sean O’Malley inside the Octagon, Oscar De La Hoya hopes to snag a spot on the card against Dana White.
During Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Garcia called out the reigning UFC bantamweight champion, claiming that he would hand ‘Sugar’ an ass-whooping inside the Octagon if given the opportunity. Soon after, De La Hoya — Garcia’s promoter — stepped into the studio and angled for an opportunity to fight the UFC CEO in some kind of a potential boxing vs. MMA supercard.
“I would actually entertain that because Ryan can fight in the main event and maybe I can [fight] Dana in the co-main” De La Hoya said when speaking about Garcia’s challenge to O’Malley.
Oscar De La Hoya proposes a fight with Dana White in the co-main event of a Ryan Garcia vs. Sean O'Malley card
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The feud between Dana White and Oscar De La Hoya dates back to 2017 when the UFC boss was in the middle of co-promoting Conor McGregor’s clash with Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. De La Hoya said the bout was “disrespecting the sport of boxing,” which clearly didn’t sit well with White. In 2021, White called De La Hoya a “crackhead” on X (then Twitter) and accused him of using COVID as an excuse to bow out of a boxing match with MMA legend Vitor Belfort.
Since then, De La Hoya has extended an olive branch to White, hoping that they could eventually squash their long-standing rivalry. Asked about his relationship with the UFC CEO, ‘The Golden Boy’ told Helwani:
“We’re cool. It’s all good. Well, I don’t know if we’re cool. I haven’t talked to the guy. I’m good, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go at it.”
Dana White echoed the same “we’re cool” sentiment in 2022 but made it clear that the two would never be friends again.
“I feel like De La Hoya’s apology was sincere, but there’s no way that he and I can ever be friends again,” White said during a fan Q&A with GQ Sports. “He and I were actually friends. I used to go to his fights. I used to watch his fights. I used to promote his fights. 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” (h/t Bleacher Report).