UFC's White Erupts at De La Hoya Over Mayweather-McGregor

Last week, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya came out publicly in opposition of the proposed pay-per-view boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and UFC champion Conor McGregor.

De La Hoya deemed the contest a "circus", saying the sport of boxing may never recover if the "farce" is allowed to take place.

McGregor, the biggest pay-per-view draw in the UFC, announced earlier this month that he had signed his half of the deal to box against the 40-year-old Mayweather, who retired in 2015 with a 49-0 record.

"With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that the circus known as Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor will be coming to town in the near future," De La Hoya wrote in an open letter posted on his Facebook account. "One group will eventually be left to make sure this farce doesn't occur... We, the fans, who are the lifeblood of our sport."

"...just wait until the best boxer of a generation dismantles someone who has never boxed competitively at any level -- amateur or professional. Our sport might not ever recover," said De La Hoya, pointing out the differences between boxing and MMA.

"To use a bit of an extreme analogy, I happen to be a pretty good golfer. Could I potentially hold my own on one of the second-tier tours? Maybe. But would I be able to compete with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith or Sergio Garcia? Of course not. Nor would I think to try."

De La Hoya feels the circus-like atmosphere of Mayweather-McGregor, and all of the pre-fight theatrics, might potentially hurt the planned promotion for the September superfight between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, which De La Hoya and K2 Promotions are staging on HBO Pay-Per-View. Canelo-Golovkin is the most highly anticipated boxing event of the year.

 "...if Floyd were to come out of retirement to take on someone like Keith "One-time" Thurman, Errol Spence or some other top welterweight, not only would I applaud the fight, I'd be the first one on line for a ticket," De La Hoya added. "That kind of fight is what the fans -- and I am a fan first -- deserve."

UFC President Dana White has fired back at De La Hoya.

First, White took to social media and posted a video - from a few months earlier - where De La Hoya embraced the idea of a boxing match between McGregor and Canelo.

“Imagine Conor McGregor and Golden Boy coming together. The only fight that I would love to see and it’s the one that makes the most sense, that would be the most exciting, that would be a guaranteed knockout is against “Canelo” Alvarez,” De La Hoya said on the video.

Then White went on TMZ, and conducted a video interview where he erupted over De La Hoya's open letter.

"I'm saying 'what the f*** Oscar?' Oscar and me have always had a good relationship. I was just at the fight [at T-Mobile in Las Vegas]. He's talking about money grabs... Canelo-Chavez.. you know what I mean. You're going to put on a fight like that and then call Mayweather-McGregor a money-grab when you were trying to make that fight [between Canelo-McGregor] four months ago. It's crazy. What is this guy doing, what's his deal?," White said.

"Im basically saying to him 'what's up'. Why is he saying something like that? It makes it sound like he has no confidence in Triple G vs. Canelo - which I have come out and said publicly is a good fight. I like the fight, I'll watch the fight. He seems completely insecure and it's one of the weirdest things that I've ever seen. Talk about two-faced and contradicting and hating, and the list goes on and on. Like he has no confidence in his fight. Oscar, what the f*** is going on with you? Are you out of your mind. Have you lost your f***ing mind? What's going on."

According to White, the negotiations are still going forward for Mayweather-McGregor.

"We're moving on this thing and I'm confident that this thing can get done," White said.