Dana White had one word for the videos he’s seen on Oscar De La Hoya’s social media accounts: “Wow.”
Golden Boy Promotions founder De La Hoya, one of boxing’s best fighters of the last 30 years, has been on a tear in 2024 as his company has held big events featuring some of the sport’s most popular stars like Ryan Garcia, Jaime Munguia, and Vergil Ortiz.
The 51-year-old has also been working hard online with his new Clapback Thursday-themed shows on X, where he comments on the big issues in boxing or fires back at one of his rivals.
There are also numerous videos posted on Instagram, on his account or his partner Holly Sonders, that show De La Hoya in risque outfits.
At an MMA event World Boxing News attended Tuesday in Las Vegas, UFC boss White said he had “unfortunately” seen these videos.
“And a new one came out [Tuesday],” White added. “Wow.”
De La Hoya wasn’t the only figurehead in boxing White spoke about, as September 14 — a date UFC goes head-to-head with boxing — fast approaches.
On the same day UFC heads to a $2.3 billion mega venue called The Sphere in the middle of the Las Vegas strip, Premier Boxing Champions holds an event at the T-Mobile Arena with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez against Edgar Berlanga in the headline attraction.
The weekends closest to Cinco de Mayo [May 5] and Mexican Independence Day (September 16) are traditionally key dates in the boxing calendar.
But in 2023, and now again in 2024, UFC has organized an event around that date to try and leverage the fervent Mexican interest and contribution to boxing, into MMA.
“It was our date last year,” White said, referring to a UFC Fight Night-branded event featuring a main event between women’s flyweight champ Alexa Grasso and pound-for-pound staple Valentina Shevchenko. This event seemed to push the Canelo vs Jermell Charlo show off that weekend and later into the month.
The only reason the UFC missed out on securing the Mexican Independence Day fight night at T-Mobile Arena is because PBC booked the venue one year in advance.
This infuriated White. Not because he felt PBC founder Al Haymon had disrespected him — the UFC boss seems to respect Haymon and Canelo — it was more about MGM Resorts International not giving him a heads-up or courtesy phone call.
“That was our date last year, and without even asking us, or talking to us, they gave the date away,” said White.
“That’s why I’m at The Sphere. I couldn’t do The Sphere because I’m under contract [to do 3-4 shows per year] with MGM [at T-Mobile Arena], but because they f***** us, they let us do it.”
From the outside looking in, there may now be a battle heating up over who wins the right to hold an event on Mexican Independence Day weekend at the T-Mobile Arena.
White, though, doesn’t see it that way. “I don’t think it’s a battle” with Haymon, he said.
“Props to Al Haymon. He slid right in there before we were done with the weekend [last year] and took the date from us.”
White later added: “Haymon and Canelo are just doing their thing, props to them. Good for them [that] they can slide in and steal the date without a phone call [to us, from MGM].”
Regardless of whether Canelo wants to fight in Vegas on that date in the future, or indeed any other prominent boxer who can command that kind of crossover interest, like how Floyd Mayweather had before he retired, White said he wants to host a UFC event on Mexican Independence Day every year, going forward.
“I’m going to [hold an event on] Mexican Independence Day every year here for the rest of my career, at least, no matter what’s going on,” White told WBN and other reporters.
White then said MGM “is guaranteeing the gate” for the Canelo vs Berlanga fight.
In this scenario, if, say, the guarantee was for $15 million, then even if ticket sales only generated $10 million, PBC would still receive the $15 million guarantee. If the gate exceeded that figure, they’d get the excess.
“Why would they not go if MGM is putting up all the money,” said White, likening MGM’s decision to give the date to boxing while also providing a guarantee to Haymon and PBC to “an extra kick in the balls.”
Sean O’Malley fights Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306 at The Sphere, after Grasso returns, once again, for a fight with Shevchenko in a high-stakes rematch — all on ESPN+.
Aside from Canelo vs Berlanga, Erislandy Lara takes on Danny Garcia, and Caleb Plant and Rolando Romero fight in separate fights at boxing on Prime Video PPV.
Alan Dawson is World Boxing News Lead Writer, a 2 x Sports Journalist of the Year finalist, and 5 x BWAA awards winner. Follow Alan @AlanDawsonSport.
