Oscar De La Hoya says 'the UFC is tanking' as he takes aim at Dana White's Zuffa Boxing

The Golden Boy promoter says he wants to get to the bottom of Shakur Stevenson's release and that boxers 'do not wanna be treated like UFC fighters'.

Oscar De La Hoya has taken aim at Dana White's move into boxing, saying the UFC "was doing great" when White was focused on it but that he now hears it is "tanking".

Speaking at the press event for David Benavidez's unification bout with Michal Cieslak, the Golden Boy promoter said he did not know how Shakur Stevenson's exit from Zuffa Boxing came about. "I don't know the full story, whether Shakur Stevenson asked for his release or Uncle Fester just released him. I just don't know. I wanna get to the bottom of it," he said.

De La Hoya also answered what he said was White's call to judge Zuffa Boxing at the end of the year. "Dana White said, judge us by the end of the year. Well, guess what, man? I got tons of clapbacks for you ..." he said.

He added: "Yes, you're a great promoter on UFC. Actually, from what I hear, the UFC is tanking. So when he was on board with the UFC and focusing on the UFC, the UFC was doing great."

De La Hoya gave no figures to back up the claim. He went on: "And now he wants to come into boxing and do the same thing he did with the UFC. Well, it's not gonna work that way because the history involved with boxing is too ... it's too long. And the fighters do not wanna be treated like UFC fighters."

White has said he offered Stevenson his release, and that Stevenson left without fighting once for the promotion. "We never even did one fight with the guy," White said. Benavidez fights Cieslak for three cruiserweight belts on 5 December on DAZN pay-per-view.

READ NEXTRobert Garcia says Shakur Stevenson wanted to drain Raymond Muratalla to 135lbRead the next story →

Every UK fight result and what's next, every Friday. Get the free UK fight briefing

Add Combat Sports UK as a preferred source on Google