Dana White made the rounds on various ESPN shows this morning to fact-check rival mixed-martial arts promoter Oscar De La Hoya. It quickly devolved into name-calling.
While White definitely offered a different perspective and an alternative set of financial statistics meant to debunk De La Hoya’s recent claims that MMA’s major-league promotion doesn’t pay its fighters enough, the UFC president mostly just ended up calling the retired boxer an “idiot” and a “liar” a bunch of times.
Oh, and White really, really wants to be drug-tested alongside De La Hoya. White had called De La Hoya “a cokehead” a few weeks ago, so that’s what that’s all about.
First, on Mike Greenberg’s morning show “Get Up!” Thursday, White said he has paid Chuck Liddell more not to fight than De La Hoya paid him to fight in the main event on a Golden Boy MMA card last month.
De La Hoya and his promotion have been widely criticized for letting the 48-year-old Liddell compete, and White has been the leading voice of dissent. De La Hoya’s critics say the MMA legend, who was knocked out in his last few UFC fights and never stood a chance in the November bout against the also-past-his-prime Tito Ortiz, should have never been cleared to compete.
White continued the attack later on ESPN’s “First Take.” There, he added the word “moron” into the mix while talking about De La Hoya.
White wants to take their many disagreements to a neutral, public arena.
“Let’s do it, idiot, c’mon, any show you want,” White challenged De La Hoya to a live-TV debate. “I wanna hear you stumble and bumble and mumble through … he doesn’t run the business, he knows nothing about the business, he knows nothing about the sport — and he’s not very bright. So, let’s do it, any day of the week, let’s do it — and let’s do drug tests too.”
Watch White’s “Get Up” appearance above and his “First Take” one below.
And this is what has White all worked up — in addition to what he sees as the exploitation of Liddell, who helped popularize the UFC: