Dana White Disputes Oscar De La Hoya's Garcia-Benn Snub Claim

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Dana White says he would never set up Oscar De La Hoya to be embarrassed at a fight, pushing back directly on De La Hoya's explanation for skipping Ryan Garcia's win over Conor Benn.

Garcia stopped Benn in the second round of their WBC welterweight title fight on Sept. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, an event co-promoted by White's Zuffa Boxing and De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. De La Hoya had said beforehand that he planned to be there and had a seat and VIP access waiting for him. He never showed.

Why De La Hoya Says He Stayed Away

Oscar De La Hoya told Fight Hub TV he skipped the event because he believed he was walking into a setup. "I wasn't going to show up to be embarrassed," De La Hoya said. "It was a Zuffa f*cking event. A 'Zuffa event,' a 'Turki event.' I was not going to show up and be embarrassed, because that's exactly what they were going to do to me. I was not going to do that. So, I made the wise decision to not go. It would have been embarrassing. It would have created distractions. It would have been a mess." De La Hoya's framing makes clear he saw the Garcia-Benn card as White's show in name only, run by Zuffa Boxing and backed by Turki Alalshikh despite the Golden Boy co-promotion credit.

How Dana White Responded

Dana White rejected the idea that he'd ever ambush De La Hoya like that, even acknowledging the two men can't stand each other. "I would never do that," White said after the latest episode of Dana White's Contender Series. "Listen, my dislike for Oscar De La Hoya is very well known. He knows it, I know it, and it's mutual. But I am the type of person who would call and say, 'Don't even try and show up to this f*cking fight. You're not welcome.' I would never have somebody show up to an event and do that." White then pointed to his own history with Vince McMahon, saying McMahon once had him fly to New Orleans for Ronda Rousey's first pro wrestling appearance only to find there were no tickets waiting for him at will call. White used that memory to argue he knows exactly how it feels to be set up and wouldn't inflict it on anyone, enemy or not.

What This Means for Zuffa Boxing and Golden Boy Going Forward

The public back-and-forth signals the Zuffa Boxing and Golden Boy partnership remains tense well after Garcia-Benn wrapped. White running point on a card that still carried Golden Boy's name, while De La Hoya stayed home and now accuses White's side of disrespecting his own staff, points to a power imbalance that isn't going away quietly. For bettors and fans watching the boxing promotional landscape, the friction matters less for any single fight line and more for what it says about future co-promotions between the two camps. If De La Hoya and Golden Boy keep getting billed as partners on Zuffa Boxing cards while actually having little say in how those events are run, expect more public sniping, and possibly fewer willing collaborations, the next time a big fight needs multiple promotional banners to get made.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why didn't Oscar De La Hoya attend Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn?

Oscar De La Hoya said he skipped the Sept. 12 fight because he believed he would be embarrassed at what he called a 'Zuffa event,' despite having a seat and VIP access.

What did Dana White say about Oscar De La Hoya's claim?

Dana White denied he would ever set up De La Hoya to be embarrassed, saying he dislikes De La Hoya but would never ambush even an enemy at an event, comparing it to being snubbed by Vince McMahon before a Ronda Rousey wrestling appearance.