Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier believes UFC President Dana White did the right thing in denying Georges St-Pierre the opportunity to face six division champion Oscar De La Hoya in a boxing match.
De La Hoya, 48-years-old, has been out of the ring since getting stopped by Manny Pacquiao in 2008.
His ring return is being financially backed by the Triller app. De La Hoya's fight was initially planned for early July, but has since been pushed back to September.
St-Pierre, although retired from MMA, is still under a binding contract with the UFC - because his contract became frozen when he announced his retirement a few years ago.
In order to compete for any company outside of the UFC, St-Pierre would need to secure permission from White, who rejected the idea of allowing him to fight De La Hoya.
In the opinion of Cormier, the possible scenario of St-Pierre being demolished by a near-50 De La Hoya could be very damaging to the entire MMA community - because of St-Pierre's status as an all-time great in the sport.
“I gotta be honest, I don’t know,” Cormier said on DC & Helwani.
“I think it’s too risky for us as a community to have a guy like Georges St-Pierre boxing Oscar De La Hoya. Great for GSP in terms of the money he will make but too risky. Because even at - I don’t know if Oscar’s gotta be mid-50s at this point - it’s too risky for GSP to go and fight him because if he gets beat, if he gets starched, it’s a bad look when the greatest fighter of all-time is out there getting beat or knocked out or just dominated by a 55-year old boxer.
“You can not possibly believe Georges St-Pierre beats Oscar De La Hoya in a boxing match. Like, reality. Does not matter, dude’s an Olympic champ boxer. No, man. That’s why I don’t want to see it. It’s too risky. Maybe GSP does win but I don’t believe he does so whatever. Might as well not even do it.”
