Triller is not giving up on a potential George St-Pierre vs. Oscar De La Hoya boxing match.
Triller made an offer to UFC President Dana White of $1 million to a charity organisation of White’s choice in order for the UFC to allow St-Pierre to box De La Hoya. Triller head Ryan Kavanaugh expressed how he is trying to coax White through means of charity.
“We’re trying to hope we can appeal to Dana’s charitable side,” Kavanaugh told ESPN. “I’ve offered $250,000 and I’ve asked others to join in. So, it’s now up to a million dollars to a charity of Dana’s choice—to allow GSP to go fight for money in boxing, not UFC. When he knows St-Pierre will never fight again for the UFC.”
Leading into UFC 262 during fight week, the UFC made headlines of rumors that the UFC president actually blocked the fight between St-Pierre and De La Hoya from happening. At the UFC 262 post-fight press conference, White ripped into the new boxing promotion Triller calling them a joke and refusing to receive calls from anyone associated with Triller.
St-Pierre came out afterwards to confirm the news that White did indeed block him from fighting against De La Hoya in boxing and expressed his disappointment of what transpired.
“I understand that Dana didn’t want me to fight,” St-Pierre said in an interview with Cinema Blend. “However, it would have been fun. Because my career as a professional fighter, to become the best in the world in mixed martial arts, is done. I’m turning 40 years old tomorrow; I’m going to be 40 years old. It’s a young man’s game.
St-Pierre has not fought since 2017 and announced his official retirement from professional MMA in 2019. However, UFC contracts are devised in a way to prevent their athletes from competing in other combat sports even after they retire. This is because they never expire after retiring but only pause, leaving St-Pierre up in the air unless he got specific permission from the UFC to go compete, as they did with Ben Askren versus Jake Paul last month.
“For me, it would have been a dream come true,” St-Pierre said. “Because he is my second favorite boxer of all time, behind Sugar Ray Leonard. Plus, a lot of the money made would have been given to charity. So it would have been for a good cause, just to show that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. And it would have been serious competition because you say, I play basketball, I play hockey, but you don’t ‘play’ fighting. It would have been fun.”
Do you think the UFC is being petty in not allowing GSP to go into the world of boxing?
