Oscar De La Hoya releases statement in response to Dana White’s criticism: ‘Shut the f*ck up’

Oscar De La Hoya wasn’t going to take Dana White’s criticism without a response.

The legendary boxer and current promoter fired back at White, the UFC president, in a statement Wednesday sent out by his publicist Stefan Friedman. On Tuesday, White slammed De La Hoya on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast for putting on the Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz 3 fight last weekend.

In the statement, De La Hoya said that White should “shut the f*ck up.”

“Dana is so small and threatened by our success with [streaming service DAZN] and now in MMA that he is bringing up news from a decade ago to try to stay relevant,” De La Hoya’s statement read. “Boxing has entirely rejected him. And MMA fighters are now realizing they don’t have to risk their lives just so he can get rich.

“Golden Boy and I are moving forward and are bigger than ever. Dana should shut the f*ck up and try to figure out how to save his own company.”

Ortiz knocked out Liddell in the first round in the main event of Golden Boy Promotions’ first foray into MMA last Saturday in Inglewood, Calif. White has been dead set against the 48-year-old Liddell, his longtime friend, fighting again for about a decade. He refused to promote Liddell vs. Ortiz 3 under the UFC banner and has said Liddell should never fight again.

“I love Chuck Liddell and I don’t ever want to bad mouth Chuck Liddell,” White said Tuesday. “People even think I’m remotely bad mouthing Chuck Liddell, but the reality is — first of all, I heard last week the cokehead ‘Oscar De La Weirdo’ is talking shit that I don’t have any place to tell guys when to retire. First of all, it’s called ‘friendship’ you f*cking cokehead. I’ve been friends with Chuck Liddell for 20 years and the reality is that Chuck Liddell retired when he should have retired. Eight, nine years ago, however long it was. And Chuck Liddell’s almost 50 years old and has no business fighting anymore. The fact that the state of California even let that fight happen is disgusting. Disgusting.”

Liddell last fought in 2010 before falling to Ortiz. The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) cleared the bout to happen, stating that Liddell passed all the required medical exams. But CSAC doctors medically suspended Liddell indefinitely afterward.