De La Hoya-White nonsense continues
The war of words through the media between fight promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Dana White continued Thursday when De La Hoya appeared on “The Luke Thomas Show” on SiriusXM and challenged White to a boxing match.
“Let’s get in the ring,” De La Hoya said (transcribed by MMAJunkie). “Three rounds. Let’s do this. Let’s do this on the Canelo (Alvarez undercard), Cinco de Mayo. I’ll even give you five months so you can get off the juice and then we can get in great shape, and then we go three rounds. Look, I’m going to give you, what, a 50-pound advantage? It’s OK. I can take you on. Let’s do it.”
The challenge comes after White appeared on ESPN and refuted De La Hoya’s claims that UFC underpays its fighters, notably Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. During the interview on ESPN’s “First Take,” White said that Liddell was being paid $400,000 annually for his “ambassador” job with the promotion – a job that White often joked Liddell rarely did any actual work for. He also said that nine UFC events exceeded 1 million buys with $84 million going to the headliners of those cards.
White has yet to respond to De La Hoya’s call-out, but something tells us he won’t accept. But he might have something to say.
GSP leaning towards not fighting again
The will-he-or-won’t-he dance surrounding Georges St-Pierre’s fighting future continues. Speaking to the La Sueur podcast recently, GSP said that he’s feeling better from the ulcerative colitis he suffered following the Michael Bisping fight, but that he’s not that eager to get back into the cage.
“I could [come back] but to tell the truth, it’s less and less tempting for me,” he said (transcribed by MMAFighting). I did not think I would say that one day: I’m getting older. I don’t want to fight a young guy that hasn’t made it on the legacy side, that isn’t a name, I would have nothing to win. Every time we enter the octagon, it’s a risk. you could have a bad day.”
So GSP just doesn’t sound terribly motivated to get back into the cage unless it’s against a big name with a sizable legacy. He also said he isn’t interested in fighting someone on the way up, only to derail their momentum.
“I’m not interested in coming back, fighting a rising star, and destroying that guy. It give me nothing and I destroy the dream of a rising star. Both of us are losing then, we are just earning more money. If I come back, it’s not necessarily for more money but for legacy.”
While St-Pierre is riding the fence regarding a comeback, until he comes right out and says he’s retired – and as long as Conor McGregor is still around, a return has to be considered a possibility.
Friday Notebook
-Everyone made weight for Saturday’s UFC on FOX show from Milwaukee.
-Jessica-Rose Clark has been pulled from her scheduled fight with Andrea Lee Saturday night after she was deemed medically unfit to compete. No specifics have been given regarding what she is suffering from, but she did not get as far as making the scale to weigh-in.
-Francis Ngannou vs. Cain Velasquez is being targetted for UFC on ESPN on Feb. 17 from Phoenix but is not yet official.
-The ONE lightweight grand prix tournament will begin on Feb. 22 in Singapore and the flyweight tournament will begin on March 31 in Tokyo.
-King Mo called out Matt Mitrione at a Bellator press conference yesterday. “I want Matt Mitrione’s bitch ass,” he said. “That’s who I want. That’s who I want next, but he’s already booked – but hopefully ya’ll can make that happen because I don’t like his bitch ass.”
-Joseph Benavidez will serve as a replacement if necessary for either Henry Cejudo or TJ Dillashaw for their Jan. 19 fight.
Fight Announcements
-Anthony Hernandez vs. Markus Perez has been moved to the Feb. 2 ESPN+ show from Fortaleza, Brazil.
-Paul Felder vs. James Vich has been moved to UFC on ESPN on Feb. 17 from Phoenix.
-Cynthia Calvillo vs. Cortney Casey has also been moved to Feb. 17 as has Manny Bermudez vs. Benito Lopez and Aleksandra Albu vs. Emily Whitmire.
-Ben Askren vs. Robbie Lawler has been rescheduled for UFC 235 on March 2 from Las Vegas.
-Yana Kunitskaya vs. Marion Reneau has been moved to the March 9 ESPN+ event.
-Andrey Koreshkov vs. Lorenz Larkin will headline the March 29 Bellator eevent from Temecula, CA.
In case you missed it
–Who is the most important fighter in UFC history?
–A Round by Rob – Is Max Holloway the greatest featherweight of all-time?
–Staff predictions for Primus vs. Chandler II
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