Dana White Destroys ‘Cokehead’ De La Hoya For Ortiz vs. Liddell III
The reactions to last weekend’s (Saturday, November 24, 2018) Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell from The Forum in Inglewood, California, have been brutal, to say the least. With that established, it’s no surprise Dana White sounds off on the farcical ‘fight.’
Ortiz knocked the 48-year-old Liddell out in the first round of the Oscar De La Hoya-promoted event, “avenging” his previous two losses to the “The Iceman.” But the fight drew almost sport-wide criticism based on the suggestion that Liddell shouldn’t even been licensed to fight. His longtime coach John Hackleman said it made him feel ‘sick to his stomach.‘ Chael Sonnen offered his own reaction as he always does.
California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster defended his decision to license Liddell. The legendary former UFC champion had been retired for eight years. Ortiz took to social media to defend his decision to fight ‘The Iceman.’
White Goes Off
But one prominent MMA figure’s response was missing – that of UFC President Dana White. That is, until today, when White finally went off on the controversial bout on the UFC Unfiltered podcast (transcribed by MMA Fighting). White went off on supposed ‘cokehead’ De La Hoya by focusing on his friendship with Liddell and how he should have stayed retired.
He also didn’t let the CSAC off the hook:
“I love Chuck Liddell and I don’t ever want to bad mouth Chuck Liddell,” White said. “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.”
White then offered his respect for Liddell’s body of work, adding that anyone who let him fight Ortiz again was not a true friend:
“Chuck Liddell has an incredible legacy. He’s a huge superstar in this sport, so of course as a friend, anybody who claims to be a friend of Chuck Liddell and was anywhere near this fight is full of shit. They’re not a friend of Chuck Liddell. To let him go in and fight this fight is terrible.”
Lies About Pay?
White acknowledged Liddell’s will but noted the fight game catches up to everyone at some point.
Then the gloves really came off, as White eviscerated De La Hoya’s claims that fighters would get paid better by Golden Boy MMA than they would by the UFC. White pointed out the paltry sums they actually made at their first event:
“The problem is Chuck Liddell was a fighter,” White said. “Chuck Liddell loves to fight, that’s his passion, it’s what he loves in life. But there comes a day and age, fighting is a young man’s game. You can’t do it.
“And Oscar f*king De La Hoya says, ‘Oh, come over to Golden Boy where we respect the fighters and it makes me sick what these fighters were paid’ and all this shit. Out of 14 fights on the card, five bouts were amateur fights. Which means he didn’t pay them jack shit, right? And 12 of the professional fighters on the card made less than [$3,000 show and $3,000 to win]. What the f*ck are you talking about you cokehead junkie?
“Some of the guys on the card made $1,000 and $1,000. And he respects the fighters so much, he couldn’t remember their f*king names at the press conference.”
Ortiz & Oscar
The outspoken UFC front man then went in on Ortiz, suggesting he and the coke-fueled ‘De La Dummy’ were made for each other. Like De La Hoya, Ortiz suggested fighters would be “getting paid” by Golden Boy MMA, but White thinks they’ll instead be suing to recoup their purses soon. Overall, he was dumbfounded that Liddell allowed himself to become involved:
“Tito and ‘Oscar De La Dummy’ were made for each other,” White said. “First of all, Tito says, ‘Hey, you guys want to get paid. Come over to Golden Boy MMA.’ Are you kidding me? Wait a couple of months until this whole thing pans out.
“Everybody’s going to be suing everybody in a couple of months. There was no money made over there. De La Hoya’s a moron. An absolute moron. And I don’t know how Chuck allowed himself to be talked into this stupid shit.”
White closed with a brutal callout of his enemy De La Hoya. He said he hoped he would return to fighting and get knocked out himself:
“I hope somebody talks De La Hoya into fighting again,” White said. “I hope the state of California makes the fight and I hope he gets f*cking knocked out just like Chuck Liddell did in the first round. F*cking cokehead nutball.”
