Oscar De La Hoya Applauds UFC's Fox Deal, Says Boxing Will Be Back on Network TV (Video)

Once again from our friends at FightHubTV.com, this is a subject that I'm incredibly interested in personally, and Oscar addresses a couple of things I've been wondering lately. Most notably, does the UFC's deal with Fox create a chance for boxing to get back on network TV?

On UFC going to the Fox network: "First of all, I congratulate Dana White for doing an amazing job. My utmost respect to Dana White, I believe he's a brilliant guy, he's a tremendous person to have in a combat sport. I think they did an outstanding job in promoting the UFC, and look at where it's at now. They struck a deal with Fox, which is amazing for the UFC, for MMA, my hat's off to him. Boxing will be back on network television, I can feel very confident in saying that. Sooner than later, it will be back on network television. When you put good fighters together, people want to watch. And when you have any type of network behind boxing, you will create ratings. And it's a matter of when, and we're working that -- with Golden Boy Promotions, we're working on taking those next steps. What Dana White has done has been amazing, outstanding. I salute him, and keep on doing a great job."

On UFC's fast rise: "It doesn't surprise me one bit. I believe when you're the only player in that sport, you have the opportunities to dictate what happens with the sport. He's been doing tremendous deals and this goes to show you that Dana White and the Fertitta brothers are brilliant. They know what they're doing, and they've obviously taken it to the next step, to the next level. And who knows where the MMA's gonna go? Sky's the limit."

On Oscar's take on White/UFC vs Bob Arum's take on White/UFC: "It obviously goes to show you that we're Golden Boy. We're not associated with nobody else, no other promoter, we're Golden Boy, and we believe that if you do a good job, in whatever field you're in, you deserve respect. You deserve to be applauded. And Dana White has done an amazing job. What that can do for boxing is just open doors, because it's a combat sport. And I salute him. I believe he's doing some big things. More power to him.

Scott's Take: I mentioned when I did the MMA Nation show on Sunday with Luke Thomas that I'm really rooting for UFC to score great ratings on Fox on November 12, because I think their potential success could cause a network like ABC or NBC or CBS to go, "Hey, this did well. What about doing boxing?" There are no other truly viable MMA promotions right now, but there are a load of established boxers out there, and it would be, of course, truly great to see boxing back on network television. With that as a potential outlet, maybe nobody winds up being forced into sticking a fight like Bernard Hopkins vs Chad Dawson on pay-per-view simply because HBO ran out of budget.

It's also good to see De La Hoya giving Dana White his props as a promoter. I'm not the world's biggest Dana White fan, but the man is a great promoter who effectively read an audience, targeted his demographic, and delivers up to their standards consistently. He's a very smart guy, a good businessman, and he and the Fertittas have taken UFC from a total non-factor to a commercial force. They also got to this point by being patient, by being smart, and by building their brand and slowly educating the world that dismissed their sport as human cockfighting. Even most people who don't like MMA probably don't see it that way anymore, which is a big achievement.