After the last few weeks of turmoil with UFC champion Conor McGregor, including an altercation with referee Marc Goddard and recent rumors of the champion getting into bar fights with organized crime members in Dublin, UFC President Dana White has come forward with a response at a recent media lunch.
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“I don’t think it’s true.” White told the media. “Because if it was true, it would be big. Conor can walk down the street and it’s big news now. If this were true, I just have to believe it would be off-the-charts crazy.”
“If it’s true, we’ll end up finding out. I can’t chase all these things around. If it’s true, we’ll get it figured out and we’ll go from there.”
“He was being dealt with by the head of the ABC. We were gonna fight him, regardless of what [McGregor’s manager] Audie [Attar] says, we were working on a fight for him at the end of the year. And he’s just not ready. Listen … Conor might never fight again. The guy’s got a f*cking hundred million dollars.” said Dana White in regards to Conor fighting again.
“These guys make money and that’s it. Fighting is the worst. Try to get up and get punched in the face every day when you’ve got $100 million in the bank. Money changes everything for a lot of people.”
“He’s a young, rich kid who is a god in Ireland. That’s not the healthiest environment either. It’s all part of it. I don’t know if you guys remember in the very beginning with Jon Jones. There’s no doubt the talent was there. I used to go, ‘The guy is talented, but he’s young, he’s rich, he’s the king of the world now. Hopefully he can keep it together.’ That was way before the crazy shit started to happen. And there it is. It happens.
“What’s weird is it happens more in this sport, in fighting, in the fighting business, more than any other sport.”
“Conor has got a lot, too. When he travels, he’s got friggin’ people for days with him. When you make that kind of money, you’re that famous and you’re a professional athlete, you’re gonna have an overload of cling-ons.”
“We need to figure that out. Right now, with him it’s not about defend or vacate.” Dana White stated. “We’re working on a new deal with him right now.”
“You can’t. I’ve learned over the years you can’t have these conversations with them. They’re all grown men and women. To be honest with you, the only one who’s ever listened to me in all these years is Chuck [Liddell] and Ronda [Rousey]. And those are really the only two that listened to what I said.”
