Posted on 09/28/2021
By: Sean Crose
Because boxing simply isn’t ridiculous enough at times, former pound for pound great and Golden Boy Promotions honcho Oscar De La Hoya is engaged in a Twitter war with outspoken UFC honcho Dana White:
“Hey @alexvolkanovski you just won a brutal battle for @ufc and made 1/20 of what you’re worth,” De La Hoya Tweeted Sunday after Alex Volkanovski won the UFC featherweight title in the octagon, “@danawhite have some fucking respect for yourself and these fighters, and pay these warriors what they deserve.” White, of course, took the high road.
Just kidding.
“STFU U crack head,” White retorted. “Faking that u had Covid and robbing me of watching u get KTFO by @vitorbelfort you should win an academy award for your hospital performance.” White was referring to De La Hoya stepping aside from a boxing match against former MMA great Vitor Belfort after reportedly falling ill with Covid. A 58 year old Evander Holyfield stepped as De la Hoya’s replacement just two weeks before the scheduled fight, and subsequently didn’t last a round.
“That’s all you got Dana White?” De La Hoya fired back. “You’re accusing me of FAKING a virus that killed almost 700,000 Americans to avoid a fight??” De La Hoya wrote. “You pathetic piece of sh*t you’ve never even laced up the gloves. And you completely ignored my original point I made about UNDERPAYING YOUR FIGHTERS.”
These were just some of the niceties the two towering combat sport figures threw at each other while the world watched. As of press time, the feud appeared to still be raging, because what the world needs at this moment is two aging Gen Xers acting like ten year old’s in a schoolyard. It’s enough to make one wonder how two adults who behave in a way the rest of us were taught not to could possibly have attained such heights.
While it’s true the UFC doesn’t offer its stars nearly the pay boxing does its own stars, the mixed martial arts league is more likely to present the fights its fans want. Boxing, while providing its best participants with well deserved fortunes, often disappoints its fans due to a lack of high level fights. It’s a legitimate debate, of course, but lets face it, De La Hoya and White aren’t the people to argue it out – at least not in public, not in such childish fashion. This sort of things may bring in a lot of attention, but it’s a turn off to serious fans. These are serious sports, after all.