Conor McGregor has a tough comeback fight ahead of him when he faces Max Holloway for the second time at UFC 329. Holloway is a stiff test for anyone, let alone a fighter who hasn’t competed in five years. But that’s just how it is when you’re a top name competing in the UFC, according to Dana White.
White spoke with McGregor’s press outlet The Mac Life and defended the promotion’s decision to matchmake “The Notorious” right back at the top of the sport.
“You won’t see tune up fights in boxing anymore
either,” White said, referring to TKO’s Zuffa Boxing endeavor.”So there you go, we’ll make you very happy. This is not a tune up fight. It’s not what we do. And it’s not something Conor would wanna do either. When you’re at the level that both of these guys are, you know, you wanna fight the best.”
While McGregor has complained that the UFC didn’t seem interested in turning him around quickly, White suggested the promotion had big plans for him … if he wins.
“Anything is possible if he wins on Saturday night,” the UFC CEO said. “Whoever wins on Saturday night, it’s a big win and a big step up in their careers, especially at this point in time. These are two guys who have done it all. So I’ve got like five scenarios in my head if Conor wins and I’ve got like three for Max if Max wins. So it’s huge for both of them.”
“The thing that I love about the sport is, like, who saw the White House coming? Who knew that would happen? I didn’t see this fight coming, last year I was telling you guys I thought he would fight and then he didn’t so then I was thinking he wouldn’t fight and so it’s what keeps this thing fun. We have an idea of what we think the rest of the year looks like but things will happen that we don’t see coming.”
There’s been some suggestions over fight week that the UFC and McGregor haven’t seen eye to eye over the past five years, with the Irish sports star struggling to get a fight. Was the promotion protecting an unprepared and unfocused McGregor from coming back at the wrong time, or were they keeping him shelved to keep him from hitting free agency? Whatever the case, White was complimentary during this interview.
“Conor is a great business partner,” he said. “If you told me, ‘Say something bad about Conor.’ The only thing that I could say is he doesn’t show up on time. And today, he was early. He was early today. I was getting text from him, he was bitching at me. ‘I wanna get this thing going on time.'”
“So you cannot complain about being in business with Conor McGregor. It’s always good to have him. I mean, he’s the biggest star in the sport ever, and all the tide rises for everybody when he’s here. And like the press conference today, there’s been two guys that are that entertaining at a press conference. It’s Muhammad Ali and him. Period.”
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