UFC president Dana White says his once friendly relationship with Oscar De La Hoya is no longer fixable.
Prizefighting promoters Dana White and Oscar De La Hoya have always been upfront about their feelings toward each other. And over the years, the tension between the two has been on a steady rise, to say the least.
But in June, “The Golden Boy” took things to the exact opposite direction by offering to bury the hatchet and even do some work together some time in the future.
“Buying the company many years ago, building it into a powerhouse, building it into a league, building it into what it is now is just so admirable,” De La Hoya said of White. “So yeah, I’m extending an olive branch. I would love to sit down and talk and smooth things out, let bygones be bygones, and then focus on business…
“No hard feelings. It is what it is,” he continued. “I said a couple of things that were not nice, he said a couple of things that were pretty below the belt, but no hard feelings whatsoever. It is what it is. We can move on as adults and figure out something if he wants to. I’m here, I’m all ears.”
White was given a chance to respond to De La Hoya’s statements in his recent Actually Me segment on GQ Sports.
“I feel like De La Hoya’s apology was sincere, but there’s no way he and I will ever be friends again.”
“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.”
In the same video, White reiterated his previous statement about foregoing any further plans of entering the boxing promotion business, while also calling it a “corrupt, insane, f–ked up sport.”