Oscar De La Hoya Plans to Hold Another MMA Event: ‘I’m Gonna Compete with Dana White’

It sounds like Golden Boy MMA isn’t going away just yet.

In an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday, Oscar De La Hoya revealed that he plans to “build an amazing event” for his promotion’s next mixed martial arts offering. Golden Boy MMA debuted on Nov. 24 with a card that saw a 43-year-old Tito Ortiz knock out a 48-year-old Chuck Liddell in the evening’s headliner at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif.

While the booking was criticized throughout the MMA community, De La Hoya seems undeterred.

“In MMA, I’m gonna sit down with my team. I’m gonna analyze the free agents out there, because I’m not gonna get a hold of no fighters who are under contract with the UFC. I want to see who’s a free agent, who contacts me,” De La Hoya said. “And then I’ll build another event, but I’ll build a big event. I’ll build an event where the fighters are not Chuck Liddell’s and Tito Ortiz’s age, but I’ll build an amazing event. And not do it on pay-per-view. I’ll do it on a platform that is not gonna charge you $80, $90. Pay-per-view’s gone. That’s why Canelo Alvarez is gonna make $365 million not fighting on pay-per-view.”

Golden Boy MMA’s first event was on pay-per-view, although the card lacked much in terms of star power beyond Ortiz and Liddell. The card reportedly sold just 40,000 pay-per-view buys. While that figure isn’t encouraging, De La Hoya nonetheless has designs on competing with the world’s largest promotion.

“I’m gonna compete with Dana White,” he said. “Just the way I started Golden Boy promotions, and now we’re the biggest powerhouse in boxing. That’s exactly what I’m going to do with MMA.”