Oscar De La Hoya says the UFC’s business model is built on keeping fighters small — and that Jon Jones requesting his release is proof the cracks are finally showing.
Speaking on FightHype on March 12, 2026, De La Hoya weighed in on Jones seeking his UFC release after being lowballed for the White House card, offering a blunt take on the organization’s philosophy toward its own athletes.
Every fighter in the UFC is finally starting to realize,” De La Hoya said. “I’m glad he’s speaking up. I’m glad he’s in the right. Wish him all the best — he’s a great fighter. He’s their greatest fighter.
UFC Doesn’t Want Any Fighter Bigger Than the Brand
De La Hoya argued the suppression isn’t accidental — it’s structural. The UFC, he said, has always prioritized the organization’s identity over any individual star, and that strategy is now backfiring.
They want to suppress other fighters. They don’t want any fighter to be bigger than the UFC. And that’s why the UFC is going tanking down.
He tied the UFC’s recent push into boxing directly to that instability, framing it as a financial lifeline rather than a strategic expansion.
That’s why they’re involved in boxing now — because they want to start a new entity to help their bottom line. That’s it.
Boxing Pays Fighters. The UFC Pays Executives.
De La Hoya drew a sharp contrast between how the two sports distribute revenue. In boxing, he said, fighters capture the largest share of earnings. In the UFC, the pyramid is flipped.
Fighters are starting to understand that when you have such a global company and presence making tons and tons of money — not for the fighters, but for the bottom line and for the executives — there’s something wrong there,” he said.
In boxing, it’s structured the other way around. The fighters make all the money. In the UFC, it’s the other way around. And that’s wrong.
He pointed to the ongoing uproar over UFC fighter pay as evidence of a systemic failure. When Conor Benn’s reported $15 million payday became a flashpoint across the roster, De La Hoya saw it as revealing — not about McGregor, but about everyone else.
Good for him, he’s getting his paycheck. It’s a one-off. But what about the UFC fighters who’ve been fighting all their lives, putting their lives on the line and getting a fraction of what the event totals for the night? It’s just not fair.
The fact that every single UFC fighter is complaining about $15 million goes to show you that no UFC fighter has made $15 million — and they deserve way much more than what the UFC overall is taking in.
Ronda Rousey, the Antitrust Suit, and the Legal Tide Turning
De La Hoya also validated Ronda Rousey’s recent comments framing Dana White as merely an “employee” with limited structural power. “She’s totally right,” he said. “She made the clap back in a positive way.”
On the ongoing antitrust lawsuit brought by UFC fighters, De La Hoya expressed confidence that the legal momentum is on the athletes’ side. “It’s a great thing for the fighters’ league that is suing the UFC. They won one time, they’re probably going to win again.”
For De La Hoya, the broader point is that the reckoning has been a long time coming — and the UFC’s expansion into boxing is a sign of an organization scrambling, not thriving.
