On Wednesday, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya became a big target for the mixed martial arts community, after critics went after the retired boxer for certain mishaps during the final press conference to promote his company's first MMA pay-per-view. (photo by Hoganphotos)
The event takes place on Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
In the main event, UFC veterans and Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will meet in a trilogy showdown.
De La Hoya displayed what many felt was odd behavior at Wednesday's final press conference
During the press conference, De La Hoya repeatedly mispronounced Liddell's name - calling him "Lie-dell."
He also drew a blank, admittedly, when it came to naming any of the undercard fighters.
Despite the heavy criticism from the MMA community, Liddell is giving his promoter a pass on the situation.
“He’s doing his best. He’s out here working. There’s a lot of fights on the card, and it’s certainly new to him. By the time someone makes it onto that stage in the UFC, they’ve been fighting for a long time in the same organization, so you should know their names, right? This is the first time. You can’t get mad at him too much," Liddell said to The Mac Life.
And the MMA veteran is not bothered by the mispronunciation of his name.
“Someone said he had it corrected. I thought he did, otherwise, I would’ve warned him before (the press conference), reminded him,” Liddell said. “People give him a hard time, but I’ve had my name misspelled a lot of times — the UFC still misspells my name sometimes. It is what it is. He’s trying. It’s good. It’s okay,” Liddell said.
2023-10-22 07:27:36
