Georges St-Pierre missed out on huge boxing match because of Dana White, was offered Khabib Nurmagomedov instead

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre had his sights set on a lucrative boxing match with Oscar De La Hoya in 2021, but UFC president Dana White scuppered the plans.

St-Pierre, who retired from MMA in 2019, has consistently expressed interest in staying active despite his retirement. While a planned jiu-jitsu match with Nick Diaz fell through due to injury last year, the Canadian legend was exploring a potential boxing showdown with De La Hoya.

De La Hoya was signed with Triller Fight Club in 2021. However, St-Pierre's existing contractual obligations with the UFC ultimately forced him to decline the offer.

On the Pound 4 Pound Podcast, St-Pierre revealed his eagerness to fight De La Hoya but admitted Dana White nixed the deal due to his well-known animosity towards the now-boxing promoter.

St-Pierre said:

"It didn’t happen because Dana White told me no. Dana White hates Oscar De La Hoya and my contract with [UFC] after you retire you still have a few years, depending on the contract. but my contract was, the way it's made is, I still [had] ties with UFC for up to... I can't remember the number of years exactly... but I still had ties with UFC and Dana."

Though the De La Hoya fight fell through, White reportedly offered St-Pierre a matchup with Khabib Nurmagomedov as an alternative. However, with both fighters retired the matchup could never come to fruition:

"And then he [White] called me after, he said he wanted me to fight Khabib, but Khaib already retired and I already retired so..."[38:12]

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Georges St-Pierre believes age gap would have given him edge over Oscar De La Hoya in boxing match

Georges St-Pierre shared his thoughts on the hypothetical boxing match with Oscar De La Hoya, had it come to fruition.

Appearing in the same episode of the Pound 4 Pound Podcast, 'Rush' acknowledged De La Hoya's legendary boxing career and admitted he wouldn't have stood a chance against a prime 'Golden Boy'. However, St-Pierre feels that their age difference would have been a significant factor if the fight had happened in 2021.

He stated:

"The Oscar De La Hoya [fight], it was not an MMA fight obviously. It was boxing, but it was boxing with bigger gloves, like 16-ounce, sparring gloves. And you know, Oscar is almost 10 years older than me. I don't have the audacity of saying that I'm a better boxer than Oscar in his prime. No way, Oscar was one of the best of all time."

St-Pierre added:

"Oscar in his prime would have beat me in boxing like easily. But because I'm younger than him and I think I have less mileage than he does, I think it would made a fair fight and I think I would have beat him in boxing."[37:05]

Check out Georges St-Pierre's comments below: