Dana White Rips Oscar De La Hoya, Calls Him a 'Cokehead' for Allowing Liddell vs. Ortiz 3
UFC President Dana White didn't mince his words when it came to his disapproval of last weekend's bout between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, ripping into Oscar De La Hoya on Tuesday for allowing the fight to happen.
White, who encouraged Liddell to retire in 2011 as his longtime friend, blasted De La Hoya for more than ten minutes in an interview with UFC Unfiltered. White called De La Hoya a "cokehead" for promoting the fight. Liddell, 48, had been retired for nearly eight years before returning to face Ortiz, 43, in the light heavyweight bout in Los Angeles. Liddell suffered the seventh knockout loss of his career.
Leading up to the fight, De La Hoya framed Liddell's comeback as a chance for the athlete to determine his own fate and decide when to retire.
"Listen, I love Chuck Liddell and I don't ever want to badmouth Chuck Liddell or even let people think I'm remotely badmouthing Chuck Liddell," White said. "But the reality is, first of all, I heard last week the cokehead, 'Oscar De La Weirdo,' is talking s---, that I don't have any place to tell guys when to retire. It's called friendship. It's friendship, you f---ing cokehead. I've been friends with Chuck Liddell for 20 years and the reality is Chuck Liddell retired when he should have retired eight or nine years ago."
White also attacked the California State Athletic Commission for sanctioning the fight.
"Chuck Liddell is almost 50 years old and has no business fighting anymore," White said. "The fact the state of California let that fight happen is disgusting. It's disgusting. Chuck Liddell has an incredible legacy. He's a huge superstar. Anybody who claims to be a friend of Chuck Liddell and was anywhere near that fight is full of s---. They're not a friend of Chuck Liddell. To let him go in and fight this fight is terrible."
While Saturday's bout was the first time De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions had been involved in mixed martial arts, Tuesday's scathing comments weren't the first White has ever aimed at the group's CEO. After De La Hoya bashed White's role in the Mayweather-McGregor fight, White called De La Hoya "two-faced and contradicting and the list goes on and on."
De La Hoya did not attend the postfight news conference and has yet to publicly comment on the fight.
Ortiz announced his retirement immediately after his knockout victory. Liddell has not yet indicated whether or not he will step into the cage again.
