As if we were not preoccupied with the incessant UFC 313 aftermath news, UFC CEO Dana White is now doing media rounds for his new boxing venture. The UFC boss announced a few days ago that he and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh decided to sign on a new boxing league under the TKO group. Naturally, MMA fans have many questions. But the biggest one yet is: Will the new boxing venture percolate into UFC somehow, i.e., will boxers and UFC fighters have crossover fights?

In an interview with Dan Rafael in the Fight Freaks Unite Podcast, White provided some updates on the same. Of course, the inevitable question would surface at some point—will boxers under White’s promotion be able to cross over to the UFC, and vice versa? Well, the UFC head honcho was pretty adamant about putting firewalls in place and said that boxing and MMA would not mingle. He said, “I definitely could, but I am not interested in doing the, you know, the matches between disciplines. The boxers will box and the MMA guys will fight UFC.”

This naturally shatters all dreams we and Alex Pereira had of a possible bout against Oleksandr Usyk. The 37-year-old former light heavyweight champion was hoping for a fight against Usyk, and the feeling was mutual for the Ukrainian boxing heavyweight champ. “In the future, I would like Dricus or Jon Jones or even fighting Oleksandr Usyk in boxing,” Pereira told the BBC. And who knows, if he had won his fight in dominant fashion, then maybe the UFC head honcho would have entertained this idea?

Well, not likely, since the UFC President has big fish to fry in terms of setting up the infrastructure: “I just felt it do everything by gut. Number 1, number 2, the first thing that needs to be done is we need to build an infrastructure, we need to build the right team, you know, for this project. I always surround myself with really good people, you know.”

He further added, “I don’t need executives, I need matchmaking, we got the legal, I need operational people like my girl Amber, who runs the show, she is a f—–g animal, you know what I mean. I need people that like, I need key people. I need ops, I need matchmaking.”

Of course, there’s a healthy amount of skepticism with Dana White’s ‘Make Boxing Great Again’ bid. Of course, a major talking point is whether the boxers under his promotion will get paid the same as athletes in the UFC. Amid the criticism, one of White’s arch-rivals came forward to throw shade at the UFC head honcho and his new combat sports venture.

Oscar De La Hoya shows his discomfort with Dana White’s new boxing plans

Though many details still remain elusive, White and the team will reportedly handle the promotion’s daily operations. Meanwhile, it’s well known that Oscar De La Hoya and UFC CEO don’t see eye to eye. Their relationship was forged in the cracks that separate boxing and MMA, and they’ve never shied away from throwing absolute vitriol in each others’ directions. So naturally, the boxing legend found very little reason to be happy about regarding his rival’s new boxing promotion.

De La Hoya joined Ryan Garcia and Jose Ramirez in a discussion, he touched upon the new boxing foray, which would have a UFC-style of infrastructure. De La Hoya replied, “No, look, I mean, I did hear that he passed over the reins of boxing to Dana White. Well, that comment to me, I felt a little offended.”

Post retiring, the Mexican-American boxer dedicated his whole life to promoting the sport for over 20 years. The former world champion acknowledged that collaborating with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season was a good experience and he is open to it. “So right, I’m gonna stick in my lane, and I’m going to work with Turki Alalshikh because it has been very positive,” De La Hoya repeated. It will be very interesting to see the dynamic between White and De La Hoya with Alalshikh in the middle.

What do you think of Dana White’s new boxing venture? Do you think he’ll succeed as a promoter in one of the most unforgiving businesses in combat sports? Let us know in the comments down below.