“It felt like walking into a buzz saw. I walked in, and I already felt defeated,” said De La Hoya to the media.
Oscar said the tone of the hearing made it clear to him that the direction had already been set, pointing to the type of questions being asked and how they were handled.
“I believe it was already premeditated. The questions that they were asking. They had the answers all prepared.”
De La Hoya also described moments that, in his view, showed where the interest was leaning, including senators asking WWE and UFC executive Nick Khan about bringing events to their areas.
“They were asking Nick Khan, ‘Can you bring the UFC or WWE to my hometown?’ I was like, wait. I couldn’t understand what was going on.”
Despite saying Golden Boy made its case, De La Hoya expects the bill to move forward regardless.
“The Senate’s decision is already made. I’m convinced it’s going to pass,” said Oscar.
From there, he drew a clear line for fighters, viewing the situation as a choice between two paths.
“Fighters have a choice. You want to go with Zuffa, where there’s a lot of holes in that cheese, let me tell you, or you want to stay on this side and be protected by the Muhammad Ali Act the way it is in place.”
The comments place De La Hoya directly in opposition to the direction being pushed by Dana White and Zuffa Boxing, and frame the coming changes as a risk rather than an upgrade for fighters.
It also signals how promoters on the traditional side are beginning to present the issue, not as a negotiation, but as a dividing line.
De La Hoya is speaking like it’s already decided, not as a debate still in play but as a shift that’s coming, with fighters left to decide which side they want to be on before the change hits.
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