Georges St-Pierre is considered by many to be one of, if not the, greatest mixed martial artists to have ever competed in the UFC. He has retired from MMA, but he has since revealed that he would not be averse to a boxing match against a fellow combat sports legend.
One such man whom Georges St-Pierre appeared to have his sights set on was Oscar De La Hoya, the winner of 11 boxing titles over three weight classes. Both St-Pierre and De La Hoya seemed fully invested in getting the boxing match booked.
But as Georges St-Pierre told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, UFC president Dana White blocked the fight from being made. 'Rush' is still under contract with the UFC, meaning that White has the final say on whether the former UFC double champ can compete again. GSP stated:
"I needed to have the blessing of Dana White. I called Dana, I even called Lorenzo (Fertitta) to try to convince Dana. Lorenzo liked the idea. But Dana did not want it. I know he hate Oscar (De La Hoya), but I said to him: 'Listen, I'm gonna make Oscar look bad because I'm in great shape. I've been staying in great shape the whole time and I'm going to do a full boxing training camp with Freddie Roach.'"
White's response to GSP's argument was to initially state that he was concerned that De La Hoya would decimate St-Pierre in the boxing ring.
"At first he says to me the reason why he doesn't want it is because he thought Oscar would basically destroy me in a boxing match. I had some good arguments, I told him that I believe Oscar has more mileage than I do, he's no longer in his prime, I've stayed busy the whole time, I'm still in great shape. I'm gonna be very well prepared and I'm taking this fight very seriously," St-Pierre revealed.
Dana White had another reason to not allow the fight between Georges St-Pierre and Oscar De La Hoya to be booked
Georges St-Pierre's counterargument appeared to get through to Dana White. However, rather than relent and allow the fight to take place, he simply changed his tune and offered up another reason as to why he couldn't allow the fight to take place.
"He thought about it," said Georges St-Pierre. "But he came back with the argument that now it's not because he thinks Oscar's gonna win... He doesn't like the fact that Triller take me, and make money out of my back while I'm still under contract with the UFC."
Check out the full MMA Hour interview with Georges St-Pierre below: