Boxing and MMA have always been rival sports that cater to a similar audience. But when it comes to the strained relationship between UFC President Dana White and legendary boxer turned boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya, the animosity between the two couldn’t be more personal.
White and De La Hoya have been exchanging personal jabs online for years for one reason or another. White has even said in the past that the two are “never going to be cool” after De La Hoya was critical of the 2017 cross-sport boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
The two have seemingly despised one another for so long that any kind of resurrection of their relationship seems to be out of the picture, which was only further emphasized by White and TKO Group Holdings announcing the forming of a new Saudi-backed boxing promotion on Wednesday, a direct competitior to De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
One person who has wholeheartedly been in White’s corner during his ongoing feud with De La Hoya is longtime UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan.
Last month during an episode of his uber-popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan took aim at De La Hoya for sharing his opinion on the recent Terrance Crawford-Vergil Ortiz Jr. bout despite not being a promoter of either fighter. On top of this, Rogan poked fun at De La Hoya’s physique, questioning whether he has fake abs.
“Why has Oscar De La Hoya got fake abs?’ Rogan asked. “You seen that? Oscar De La Hoya has got some fake abs. Something’s going on, man.”
This seemingly caught the attention of De La Hoya, who called out Rogan for being “petty” in a response video where he alleged Rogan of being negative towards him because of his relationship with Dana White.
“Joe, it must be in your contract to speak ill of me and not say one nice word about me,” said De La Hoya. “Bro, stop being petty. You refuse to put me on your podcast when the majority of your content is MMA or boxing-centered. I mean, I get that daddy Dana will not let you have me on the podcast.”
De La Hoya further challenged Rogan to host both he and White on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, saying that it would be his “highest-rated show” ever.
“Let me propose something,” De La Hoya added. “This will be the highest-rated show you’ll ever do. Have me and your daddy Dana on the podcast together, two against one. And I’m fine with that because I’m an open book.”
It would certainly be hard to top Rogan’s podcast episode with Donald Trump last year from a sheer viewership standpoint, which has 56 million views on Rogan’s official YouTube channel.
Considering Rogan’s recent comments toward De La Hoya, it sure seems unlikely that he will ever be a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. But there would undoubtedly be a significant portion of combat sports fans that would be interested in this potential podcast episode should Rogan have a change of heart.