“It felt like walking into a buzz saw. I walked in, and I already felt defeated,” De La Hoya told the media.
Oscar said the tone of the hearing made it clear to him that the direction had already been set, pointing to the type of questions being asked and how they were handled.
“I believe it was already premeditated. The questions they asked. They had the answers all prepared.”
De La Hoya also described moments he said showed where the interest was going, including senators asking WWE and UFC CEO Nick Khan to bring events to their territories.
“They asked Nick Khan, ‘Can you bring the UFC or WWE to my hometown?’ I was like, wait. I couldn’t understand what was going on.”
Although he said Golden Boy has made its case, De La Hoya expects the bill to move forward regardless.
“The Senate’s decision has already been taken. I am convinced that it will succeed,” said Oscar.
From there he drew a clear line for combatants, viewing the situation as a choice between two paths.
“Fighters have a choice. You want to go with Zuffa, where there are a lot of holes in that cheese, let me tell you, or you want to stay on this side and be protected by the Muhammad Ali law as it is in place.”
The comment places De La Hoya directly in opposition to the direction taken by Dana White and Zuffa Boxingand frames the upcoming changes as a risk rather than an upgrade for fighters.
It also indicates how promoters on the traditional side are beginning to frame the issue, not as a negotiation, but as a dividing line.
De La Hoya talks like it’s already been decided, not as a debate still going on, but as a shift coming, with fighters left to decide which side they want to be on before the change hits.
