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Oscar De La Hoya enjoyed UFC 306, but that didn’t change his mind about Dana White.

For the past several years, De La Hoya and White have taken shots at one another through the media over all manner of things. However, if there’s one person in combat sports De La Hoya is on worse terms with, it’s his former fighter Canelo Alvarez. So this past weekend, when Alvarez fought Edgar Berlanga, going head-to-head with “Noche UFC” in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend, the boxing Hall of Famer declared he would attend UFC 306 instead of the boxing event.

Apparently De La Hoya did just that, and rather enjoyed himself at Sphere.

“UFC Noche. I was true to my word,” De La Hoya said on Instagram. “I did attend last Saturday. I sat in [Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority] Turki [Alalshikh’s] box upstairs and I have to be honest with you, it was beautiful. It was spectacular. It looked really cool. The production value was there, everything was amazing. The fights were actually really good. So congratulations to Turki for footing the bill on this and making this celebration of the Mexican culture come to life.

“And Dana, I know this wasn’t your idea or vision. Nothing ever is at the UFC. You’re the Fertitta’s errand boy. But I’m always honest and fair, and I want to praise the production. UFC Noche was a good time and I really enjoyed it.”

Part of the production involved in UFC 306 was telling the history of Mexico through several vignettes played on Sphere’s screens. One chapter focused on Mexico’s history in combat sports, which even included De La Hoya.

But while De La Hoya enjoyed UFC 306, the same can’t be said for the Canelo vs. Berlanga fight. The bout received substantial criticism beforehand as Canelo was a massive favorite, and that bore out on Saturday night as Canelo won a wide unanimous decision, even dropping Berlanga in the third round.

Because Canelo was unable to finish Berlanga despite the perceived gap between them, De La Hoya excoriated the pound-for-pound standout.

“As far as the action, I called it in advance. Another fight that went the distance without any truly exciting moments,” De La Hoya said. “Berlanga didn’t win one round! He was never remotely in the fight from the first bell. Is this where boxing is going? The bar has been set so low that fans are just happy to see fighters last 12 rounds? What? Fighters are getting praised for simply going the distance with a 35-year-old Canelo who hasn’t knocked anybody out since 2021. Don’t you all want to see knockouts?

“I’m from a different time in this sport when fighters went to war in the ring. We wanted to destroy our opponents. I still took the [Manny] Pacquiao fight knowing my body was broken and old and I couldn’t beat him, but I was a warrior. I wanted to be a legend. It’s a different mentality, a champion’s mentality. Canelo wants to get paid. He avoids [Joseph] Benavidez and [Dmitry] Bivol who schooled him just like [Floyd] Mayweather. He wants to cruise easily into retirement.

“Where are the fighters who have balls? Don’t we want to see the best fight the best? Why are we, as boxing fans, accepting this low level competition and entertainment?”

De La Hoya previously promoted Alvarez until Canelo left Golden Boy Promotions in 2020. Earlier this year, Alvarez claimed De La Hoya stole money from his fighters which led De La Hoya to threaten legal action in return.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Warned
| BJPenn.com

UFC

The semifinal round of Professional Fighters League’s (PFL) playoffs for PFL MENA 3 kicks off later TODAY (Fri., Sept. 20, 2024) inside PFL MENA Studios at Boulevard City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Headlining the event will be a Featherweight bout between Abdullah Al-Qahtani (9-1) facing off against Abdelrahman Alhyasat (4-0). Al-Qahtani defeated Yazeed Hasanain earlier this year at PFL MENA 1 via second-round TKO, while Alhyasat earned a unanimous decision win over Harsh Pandya-Basahel on the same card. In the co-main event, Jordan’s Jarrah Al-Selawe (20-6) faces off against Omar El Dafrawy (11-6) in a Welterweight Semifinal fight.

Scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. ET, MMAmania.com will deliver live results and highlights to see who gets closer to the $ 100,000 grand prize.

PFL MENA 3 QUICK RESULTS:

145: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Abdalrahman Alhyasat
170: Jarrah Al-Silawi vs. Omar El Dafrawy – Dafrawy via first-round KO
170: Mohammad Alaqraa vs. Amir Fazli – Alagraa via unanimous decision
155: Souhil Tahiri vs. Mohsen Mohammadseifi -Mohammadseifi via unanimous decision
135: Ali Taleb vs. Jalal Al Daja – Taleb via first-round KO
145: Islam Reda vs. Maraoune Bellagouit – Reda via unanimous decision
135: Elias Boudegzdame vs. Rachid El Hazoume – El Hazoume via unanimous decision
155: Georges Eid vs. Omar Reguigui – Eid via first-round TKO
125: Malik Basahel vs. Saher Qasmieh – Basahel via unanimous decision
145: Adam Meskini vs. Yazeed Hasanain – Meskini via split-decision

For all the latest PFL news and notes click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jake Paul is willing to let Dana White off the hook – with one condition.

Ever since Paul made the transition from YouTube influencer to professional boxer, he has argued for better fighter pay in both boxing and MMA, the latter of which has drawn the attention and ire of UFC CEO White. Paul and White have engaged in a public war of words over the topic, with the feud becoming increasingly personal.

On his BS podcast, Paul laid out the conditions under which he would back off from the conversation, with his withdrawal contingent on White increasing pay for the lesser known fighters on the UFC roster.

“The only thing I’ve really asked for is for the minimum fighter pay, which is $ 12,500, to be changed to $ 50,000,” Paul said. “So that if fighters who have to work multiple jobs, if they fight once a year even, they would still be able to live off of that and if it was twice a year, they’d make a hundred grand, which is great.

“But now, if they’re fighting once a year, it’s $ 12,500, or twice a year would be $ 25,000. So that’s been my only ask to Dana to change, and that would only cost the UFC $ 20 million annually. So it seems like you made three, four billion dollars, why not just give a little bit more to the fighters? It’s only $ 20 million. That’s been my biggest thing. Make that change and I’ll shut the f*ck up.”

White’s name came up when guest Steve-O claimed that he and White actually watched Paul’s August 2023 bout against former UFC star Nate Diaz together. That story would contradict White’s claim that he “stopped paying attention” to Paul’s fighting career after “The Problem Child” lost to Tommy Fury seven months prior to the Diaz fight.

In Paul’s eyes, the only reason there’s beef between them at all is because White doesn’t want to hear what he has to say when it comes to boosting fighter compensation.

“I could talk about all the intricate details about this shit all day long, but it’s definitely when I started talking about this, that’s when Dana White was like, ‘Jake Paul does steroids. Jake Paul’s fights are rigged. Jake Paul this, Jake Paul that,’” Paul said. “So he’s the one that started all the personal rumors. ‘Jake Paul doesn’t sell. Jake Paul won’t fight Anderson Silva.’

“He’s been the biggest voice of oppression to me because I’m the only one, literally in the whole entire fight business, who can talk back to him. There’s probably four people who can, but I’m the only one who has the balls to do it.”

Longtime MMA veteran Josh Barnett discussed his issues with Paul’s plan on X.

Just goes to show that you can be given a mic but that doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about.

There is ZERO problems with “minimum pay” in the UFC.

-Contract structure and clauses? You’ve got an argument there.

-Pay and Incentives for main event and those whose IP is used to promote the fight? 100%

-Pay for the lower and mid tier fighters? Nope. As themselves, they usually cost the UFC more than they bring in.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili isn’t having any of Sean O’Malley’s nonsense.

This past weekend, Dvalishvili won the bantamweight title, taking a unanimous decision victory over O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306. Though in the immediate aftermath O’Malley offered “no excuses,” on Thursday “Suga” changed his tune, disputing the judging in the fight, claiming to still be the 135-pound champion, and saying he will defend the title against Umar Nurmagomedov next summer. But the true champion isn’t having it.

Taking to Instagram with a response to O’Malley, Dvalishvili trolled the former champion with a video showing him acting as a disapproving father towards O’Malley.

“What the f*ck, bro?! What’s going on? Sean, is that you my friend? What’s wrong with you, bro? Why do you keep smoking, my friend? I thought you were just sleeping now. It’s sleep time for you, bro. Come on, bro.

“Listen son, don’t worry about this Umar Nurmagomedov. I will take care of Umar. You’re not a champion anymore. I’m going to take belt from you again, so you drive safe, son. Let’s go Sean. No more smoking. Drive safe.”

Merab also kisses the doll version of O’Malley several times on the head, a callback to the curious exchange that occurred during their fight.

Regardless of O’Malley’s claims, Dvalishvili remains the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion and appears poised to defend his title against either Umar Nurmagomedov or possible Deiveson Figueiredo sometime next year. Meanwhile, O’Malley is headed for surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip and will be out of action for at least six months.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

At the Joshua vs. Dubois weigh-ins, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois will step on the scale Friday in London, England.

Joshua and Dubois will compete in the heavyweight division, and they just have to weigh in over 200 pounds.

The Joshua vs. Dubois weigh-ins are expected to begin at 1 p.m. ET.

Get Joshua vs. Dubois weigh-in results below.

Fight Card (PPV.com at 11 a.m. ET)

Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois — IBF heavyweight title fight

Tyler Denny vs. Hamza Sheeraz — EBU European middleweight title fight

Anthony Cacace vs. Josh Warrington — IBF and IBO super featherweight title fight

Ishmael Davis vs. Josh Kelly — 12-round middleweight fight

Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson — WBO interim light heavyweight title fight

Mark Chamberlain vs. Josh Padley — 10-round lightweight fight

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