During his post-fight press conference following week 8 of this season of Dana White’s Contender Series the UFC CEO was asked about a rumor that Showtime Boxing would not continue past 2023.

“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,” White said with an obvious bit of sarcasm.

“F*ck Espinoza, and it’s about time that sh*tty product is off the air.”

That led to Espinoza responding during fight week for Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo.

“No disrespect to anyone but there are levels to this. What we’re doing here is the highest level of the sport. This is special. This is different. The event on Saturday night will generate a gate of over $20 million,” Espinoza said.

“That’s a rare feat in combat sports. It’s rare in concerts or events of any kind but this will be the third time in the last six months that we’ve done a gate of $20 million. Again, our this $20 million gate in the last six months.”

This is when Espinoza took aim at the UFC, and without naming White specifically, took aim at the longtime UFC leader.

“To put that in perspective, the UFC has never done a gate of $20 million in it’s entire history. We’ve done it three times since April. Like I said, this is special,” he said.

White is known for not sitting back and letting others have their way in how they speak about him or the UFC, but specially when it’s Espinoza. He took to Instagram to post a response.

 

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“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 (Alvarez), Ryan Garcia, and Terrence Crawford. Those guys are mega stars and they are the ones responsible for driving the gates in their fights. For him to even try and take credit at all shows you what an arrogant, delusional POS (piece of sh*t) that guy is.

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. – Dana White”

Whether or not Showtime Boxing actually comes to an end we’ll find out soon enough, but it’s clear to see that the beef between White and Espinoza is unlikely to ever end.

The post Dana White And Stephen Espinoza Spar On Social Media appeared first on Cageside Press.

Espinoza, who has helped put together some massive boxing matches over the years, most recently got the job done with Ryan Garcia vs. Gervonta Davis, which will go down this April.

Speaking to Cageside Press on the media junket for that fight, Espinoza confirmed that both his outfit and Bellator MMA, who air stateside on Showtime, have had talks with the former UFC champ.

“We’ve spoken to him, I know Bellator’s spoken to him,” confirmed Espinoza. “Look, everybody’s spoken to him. You don’t see a guy [like that] come along that often, and even rarer is it to see him come out and be a complete free agent. So I think he’s evaluating all his options. He’s doing the smart thing, he’s talked to everybody, and he’s weighing his options.”

With that said, Espinoza believes the deal being offered by Showtime and Bellator might be the best one out there.

“Personally I’m biased, but I think we’ve got the really intriguing opportunity to be able to seamlessly go back and forth [between MMA and boxing]. Scott Coker and I work well together, and we’ve talked about Francis, being able to participate on both of our platforms.”

Interestingly enough, Espinoza added that “we’ve talked about other fighters as well.”

Upon leaving the UFC, Ngannou made clear that his next stop would likely be in the boxing realm. Bellator’s Scott Coker previously allowed Cris Cyborg to moonlight in boxing, while Michael “Venom” Page was granted leave to fight in bare-knuckle for BKFC last summer.

Espinoza appears to be following a similar playbook. “We’re open minded in terms of the interest. If the audience is interested, and it’s a credible sporting event, we would definitely consider it. Whether it’s Jake Paul or Francis Ngannou or some of the other guys— there’s probably a half-dozen, maybe a dozen Bellator fighters who have said to me ‘at some point I’d like to try boxing.’ Because at a certain point, it’s sort of a natural next step.”

“It’s harder for boxers to go into MMA,” Espinoza added, “but MMA, they’re already training in striking and boxing. So it’s a smaller step. I think absolutely, it makes a lot of sense to do that.”

Watch our full interview with Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza above.

The post Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza: “Everybody’s Spoken” to Francis Ngannou, Ex-UFC Champ Weighing Options appeared first on Cageside Press.