Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO
Perhaps Golden Boy MMA isn’t dead after all. After Tito Ortiz proclaimed that Oscar de la Hoya’s upstart mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion was a one-and-done trip following his knockout win over Chuck Liddell at the inaugural event last November (see it again here), Oscar is singing a different tune.
During a recent interview with Barstool Radio, the former multiple-time boxing champion revealed that he is working on something big for his comeback event.
“I tried…actually I am getting into MMA and I am working on something very exciting and I am sure I am going to get a lot of heat from Dana White,” he said. “But this creates opportunity. You have Bellator and UFC, who want to monopolize the whole industry with Dana White being the cheerleader. But there is always room for another player,” added the pugilist-turned promoter.
While Golden Boy MMA 1 didn’t do great at the box office, de la Hoya is proud of his debut effort.
“We did an MMA show that was successful. A lot of people loved it. It was two name fighters, over the hill, I believe, in Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. But it was just a great atmosphere and a great event,” he added. “So I told myself, ‘We have something here.’ We know how to promote and we know the industry. So we are working on something big right now.”
Just not Ortiz vs Liddell 4…please.
As for his ongoing feud with UFC president Dana White, there seems to be no end in site.
“He’s (White) is what we call a bully. He is one of those guys that has to bully you to get his way. That’s’ the bottom line. Why do you think a lot of his fighters aren’t happy with their contracts or how they get treated?” said Oscar while going on to give all of the credit of UFC’s success to the Fertitta brothers.
“Look, I obviously admire what the Fertitta’s brothers have accomplished and what they did and where they took the company. Obviously it wasn’t Dana White. It’s the Fertitta brothers who have the brains who took this company to a whole new level and sold it off for $4 billion,” he said. “Dana White was just the best friend of the brain child. But look, what he’s done is great and I respect him.”
As far as the two men ever mixing it up inside the ring or the Octagon, Oscar admits it would be two different outcomes.
“I would be the shit out of him. Come on man, are you kidding me,” laughed “The Golden Boy” regarding a boxing match between he and White. “Not in the Octagon, he’ll beat the crap out of me.”