In 2008, boxing great turned promoter Oscar De La Hoya got into the mixed martial arts business; the first Golden Boy MMA event was headlined by the toweringly durable Tito Ortiz vs. a terribly diminished Chuck Liddell. That fight extended Liddell’s loss via early brutal KO streak to four.
“I gave Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell the opportunity because Dana White doesn’t pay them enough,” said De La Hoya at the time. “Why in the hell is Chuck Liddell still fighting at this age? Because Dana White doesn’t pay him enough, that’s why. So I have to come in and give him his biggest payday that he’s ever made.
Ortiz went into the fight with high expectations.
I’m not saying we even break 500,000, said Ortiz. But we get close to that, I would be very happy. … It would be pretty close [to my best payday] … if we could do 1.3 million buys, it would be a home run out of the park, forever.”
Estimates for the PPV buys range from around 25,000 to 40,000; De La Hoya says that doesn’t include digital buys.
White spoke with Kevin Iole for Yahoo Sports and said his old friend Liddell told him, This was the most unprofessional and disorganized group of people I ever worked with. I guess I was spoiled because I was with the UFC for most of my career and got used to how it was done over there.
White also opened up the books on fighter compensation, something he does only very rarely.
The UFC boss said Liddell never made less than $1 million in his final eleven fights, from his winning the title at UFC 52 in 2005 onwards. For his final three fights, all losses, Liddell made a minimum of $2.7 million per fight. After retiring Liddell continued to get paid – $391,115 in 2011; $409,479 in 2012; $360,362 in 2013; $358,501 in 2014; $368,284 in 2015; $421,836 in 2016; and $418,562 in 2017.
He doesn’t know the f***ing guys’ names who are fighting on his card,” said White. “He’s a liar. He’s a phony and God help anybody who wants to go fight for Golden Boy. These fighters are grown men and women. All they have to do is take one meeting with Oscar De La Hoya and they’ll see what he knows about MMA, which is absolutely f***ing nothing.
At the UFC on ESPN 15 post-fight press conference, White was asked to comment on Oscar De La Hoya’s announcement that he was going to start prizefighting again. The reply was brutal.
“Cocaine isn’t cheap, it’s expensive,” said White.
