Oscar De La Hoya has a full plate of problems at the moment. They range from the uncertain future surrounding the fight between Boots Ennis and his fighter, Vergil Ortiz Jr., and the lawsuit Ortiz filed seeking a release from Golden Boy Promotions. Yet the former world champion-turned-promoter always finds time for one of his favorite targets: Dana White.

In his signature style, Oscar De La Hoya took on Zuffa Boxing 1 during his Thursday ClapBack episode, claiming Dana White‘s boxing promotion fell short of expectations. It’s been a week since the UFC boss launched Zuffa’s first boxing event under the Paramount deal. Still, despite all the hype, boxing’s newest promotion seems to have fallen into the familiar trap of being heavily scrutinized. And De La Hoya was barely one to miss a chance.

Oscar De La Hoya rips into Zuffa boxing and Dana White’s leadership

“So, the big debut of Zuffa is out, and it couldn’t be less of what they promised us it would be,” began De La Hoya. Fans expected innovation: new rings, belts, rules, and recognizable talent. White and his partner, Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh, had loudly proclaimed that boxing was broken and that they would fix it.

“But all they did was copy and paste what we have been doing for 100-plus years,” fired De La Hoya. Calling out the partnership with Turki Alalshikh, the Golden Boy labeled the “Ring” brand as “fake news.” He also criticized in-house commentator and podcaster Max Kellerman, calling him a “puppet” and claiming the coverage was plainly biased.

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Turning to the event itself, De La Hoya said it lacked excitement. “Nobody wants to watch a club show boxing in the Apex with influencers,” he said, adding that the event looked like a show in a COVID bubble, “with the action of a sparring session.” Beyond production values, he saw Zuffa stripping fighters of individuality. They turned them into interchangeable commodities.

De La Hoya pointed to the poor execution of a hyped business plan. While the ideas may have looked good on paper, the rollout failed. He contrasted Zuffa’s startup approach with established promoters like Bob Arum and warned young fighters not to bet their careers on an unproven organization.

“They wanted a league. Well, this is the XFL of boxing,” De La Hoya said, highlighting the gap between surface-level perks and the sport’s real demands.

De La Hoya calls out White for saying one thing and doing another

The Olympic gold medalist’s latest comments follow closely after the fight-week episode of Zuffa Boxing 1. Retaining his same blunt tone, he called Dana White and TKO’s investment in boxing nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.”

De La Hoya’s critique highlighted contradictions in White’s statements. In the past, the UFC CEO said he would not work with other sanctioning bodies. Yet he now appears open to cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who wants to unify the division. Having a world title holder and future Hall of Famer in the roster seems to have forced White to adjust, showing flexibility against his earlier stance.

“This makes them nothing more than just another promoter with a made-up dubious belt,” remarked De La Hoya. To him, White’s contradictions are glaring. He capped his criticism with a sarcastic good luck to White and his team in their attempt to control boxing and monopolize the sport.

While De La Hoya’s reaction to Dana White and Zuffa is unsurprising, it underscores the deeper differences between traditional boxing and the UFC-style model White appears to be trying to bring in.