Dana White, Stephen Espinoza trade insults over Showtime boxing burn (Video)
By Amy Kaplan
On Tuesday, Sept. 26 UFC CEO Dana White was asked about the rumors that Showtime was going to be getting rid of their boxing programming.
White sarcastically replied, “That’s incredibly unfortunate. Production of that show is fantastic, the guy who runs Showtime boxing is a great human being. It’s unfortunate to hear this."
He then paused and laughed saying, “F*** Espinoza, and it’s about time that s***** product is off the air.”
Then at the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo press conference, Espinoza fired back with an insult of his own.
Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza firing shots back at Dana White at the Canelo Alvarez vs Jermell Charlo press conference: “Not all combat sports is the same. No disrespect to anyone, but there are levels to this. This event will generate a gate (money from ticket sales) of over…
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 27, 2023
“Not all combat sports is the same," he said. "No disrespect to anyone, but there are levels to this. This event will generate a gate (money from ticket sales) of over $20 million. Our third $20 million plus gate in the last six months. To put that in perspective - the UFC has never done a $20 million gate in its entire history. We’ve done it three times since April.”
He's not entirely wrong as the highest gate so far ($17,700,000) was when Conor McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez to become the UFC first double champion during the first fight in New York City.
But that doesn't change the fact that Showtime was absorbed into the streaming service Paramount+ and they will "discontinue" airing any boxing starting 2024.
I can confirm that Showtime will not be continuing their boxing schedule, after 2024.
— Raf (elusive2.0) (@elusiveraf) September 26, 2023
Following a number of conferences/calls across the pond over the past fortnight, I can attest that Showtime will be pulling the plug on boxing - after 37 years in the industry.
It should be…
"It should be noted that the remaining schedule for the 2023 calendar year will remain unaffected. However beyond 2024, there are no plans to renew current deals & that outside of sporadic PPVs… ShoBox will no longer be a feature and if Showtime dabbles in boxing again, it’ll be one-off PPV events only,"
Later that night White took to Instagram to share his response and it wasn't pretty.
“That’s exactly the type of response I would expect from that weasel Espinoza. That scumbag has absolutely nothing to do with the success of Canelo, Ryan Garcia, and Terrence Crawford. Those guys are megastars and they are the ones responsible for driving the gates in their fights. For him to even try and take any credit at all shows you exactly what an arrogant, delusional POS that guy is," White wrote on his Instagram story. “For this clown to talk about ‘levels’ is hilarious. The production of the fights on Showtime is an embarrassment and I have been saying that forever. He is a little guy with a big yap and is a complete phony. I’m not at all surprised this is the end for them. It should have come way sooner. Sorry to see you go, Weasel, enjoy your retirement.”
There's no love lost between White and Espinoza and it doesn't look like that is changing anytime soon.
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