Dana White fires back at Oscar De La Hoya with extensive figures on Chuck Liddell’s UFC earnings

UFC President Dana White does not like Oscar De La Hoya. That’s been clear for awhile now.

If there was any lingering doubt about how Dana White feels about the boxing turned MMA promoter, however, his comments in a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports should clear things up.

The UFC boss did not hold back.

“The guy wants to act like he’s my competitor [promoting MMA],” Dana White began. “I have a real business that I’ve built over the last 18 years. A real business, and I can hit you with numbers for days about [how successful it is]. How much has Oscar De La Hoya reinvested into the sport of boxing? We’ve reinvested millions and millions of dollars and we continue to do it every day. The list goes on and on.

“The guy wants to come out and tell lies and say things that make no sense when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He knows nothing about this sport. He doesn’t know the [expletive] guys’ names who are fighting on his card. He’s a liar. He’s a phoney and God help anybody who wants to go fight for Golden Boy. These fighters are grown men and women. All they have to do is take one meeting with Oscar De La Hoya and they’ll see what he knows about MMA, which is absolutely [expletive] nothing.”

In recent weeks, Oscar De La Hoya has claimed repeatedly that the UFC has always underpaid its fighters — particularly Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. In his interview with Yahoo! Sports, Dana White sought to dispel those claims with extensive figures on Chuck Liddell’s UFC earnings.

Here’s how the Yahoo! Sports report sums it up:

“White categorically denied that assertion and said there has never been a UFC championship fight that sold 1 million or more on pay-per-view where a fighter made just $50,000.

White was particularly incensed at comments De La Hoya made about how much the UFC paid Ortiz and Liddell for their UFC fights.

White said that beginning with UFC 52 on April 16, 2005, when Liddell knocked out Randy Couture to win the light heavyweight title, Liddell never made less than $1 million in a UFC fight. Including UFC 52, he fought 11 times for the UFC from that point forward.

White said that in Liddell’s final three UFC fights — knockout losses to Rashad Evans in 2008, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in 2009 and Rich Franklin in 2010 — he made a minimum of $2.7 million each fight. Ortiz, according to White, averaged $1.7 million for his last three fights, losses to Rashad Evans, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Forrest Griffin.

White added that the UFC has paid Liddell every year since he retired, making salary, appearance fee and royalty payments despite the fact his last UFC fight was June 12, 2010.

According to White, Liddell made $2,742,716 from the UFC from 2011 through today, a period when he did not fight for the company. By year, he made $391,115 in 2011; $409,479 in 2012; $360,362 in 2013; $358,501 in 2014; $368,284 in 2015; $421,836 in 2016; $418,562 in 2017 and $14,577 this year. White said the UFC did not pay Liddell a salary this year, only appearance and royalty money.”

What do you think of these comments from Dana White?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/13/2018.