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Although UFC president Dana White has never competed inside the octagon professionally, he was tempted to step inside the cage to fight on several occasions. White has been around fighters throughout his life and has some practical experience with boxing.
Dana White started boxing at 17 and later moved on to become a boxercise coach before entering the world of combat sports promotion. For the uninitiated, boxercise is a high-intensity interval training regime similar to boxing, but does not involve sparring or competitive fights.
Over the years, the UFC frontman has been at loggerheads with several people, including MMA fighters, boxers, and sometimes even media personnel. In this article, we look at every time Dana White almost stepped in the ring to fight.
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Also read: What is boxercise and how is Dana White associated with it?
#1 When Dana White wanted to fight Tito Ortiz
Unknown to many fans, Dana White once managed UFC Hall-of-Famer Tito Ortiz. This was before White became the president of the UFC. However, after becoming the promotion's top executive, his relationship with Ortiz soured. It all apparently started on a private jet when Ortiz put him in a neck crank and wouldn't let go. White was enraged and began punching Ortiz in the ribs in retaliation.
The rivalry between the pair got so heated that White and Ortiz agreed to fight one another in an amateur boxing match in 2007. However, according to White, the fight never came to fruition because Ortiz backed out at the last moment.
"He challenged me. [I] trained for it, I brought in like real guys, I spent serious time really training for this fight, and I was absolutely gonna do it. He blinked. I absolutely would've won that boxing match," White told TMZ.
#2 When Dana White agreed to fight ESPN radio host Dan Le Batard for charity
Last year, Dana White appeared on ESPN's 'The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz' and agreed to fight the show's host in a charity bout.
White was offended when Le Batard asked him some uncomfortable questions concerning the controversial fighter-pay situation in the UFC. White immediately told Le Batard that he doesn't know how the business works. He also stated that he has no problem with fighters disclosing their salaries in public.
White was visibly annoyed with Le Batard during the interview. Towards the end of the show, Le Batard proposed the idea of fighting Dana White for charity and the UFC frontman willingly obliged with some choice words of his own.
"I would like to fight you though. How do you think that would end up going? Can we do that for charity? Can we raise a bunch of money for charity?", said Le Batard.
"Absolutely. It ends very badly for you. Very badly. That I promise," White said.
The fight never happened, though, as White and Le Batard were probably not as serious about fighting each other as they initially seemed.
#3 When Oscar De La Hoya said he wants to 'kick Dana White's a**' in a boxing match
Oscar De La Hoya is not fond of Dana White and is now willing to settle his beef with the UFC president inside the boxing ring. According to De La Hoya, White stopped Georges St-Pierre from participating in a boxing match with him. GSP later acknowledged the same in an interview with CinemaBlend.
"I understand that Dana didn't want me to fight. However, it would have been fun. For me, it would have been a dream come true, because he is my second favorite boxer of all time, behind 'Sugar' Ray Leonard."
De La Hoya is understandably frustrated with White for not allowing GSP to compete and called out the UFC president on Twitter.
