Archives: White Explains Why McGregor Was Offered Co-Main (2019)

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[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 26, 2019, 1:51 PM]

Headline: Dana White Explains Why Conor McGregor Was Offered a Co-Main Event Fight

Author: Damon Martin

Conor McGregor was in negotiations for a fight against
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in July until talks fell apart when he declined a co-main
event spot on the card.

It appeared that the high-profile lightweight showdown was all
but a done deal after both McGregor and Cerrone exchanged messages on Twitter with
anticipation growing towards the eventual clash.

Then suddenly UFC President Dana White said the fight was likely no longer happening and Cerrone got booked into a different matchup against Al Iaquinta in the main event for the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Ottawa on May 4.

The reason for the shift came because McGregor didn’t want
to serve as the co-main event on a card where he would undoubtedly be the
biggest draw whether he was fighting for a title or not.

Now White has confirmed that was exactly the problem as the promotion
attempted to book McGregor on the upcoming UFC 239 card in July as part of
International Fight Week 2019.

“Yes, that did happen. Every time I deal with Conor, there’s always something. There’s always something to deal with and we get it figured out,” White told the Barstool Sports “My Mom’s Basement” podcast this week.

“Let me ask you a question — we were going to do, the fight
that was going to be on the card with him was probably going to be the
heavyweight championship. Should that be the co-main event?”

The heavyweight title fight would obviously involve current
champion Daniel Cormier and the fight that he’s been pursuing is a showdown
against current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar.

Obviously that fight wasn’t a done deal, although White has
said recently that he would like to see Lesnar return in the summer after his
obligations to World Wrestling Entertainment were wrapped up. It seems that was
definitely the plan for July with White now confirming plans for a heavyweight
title fight as the targeted headliner for UFC 239.

White believes he would have received a ton of blowback for
putting McGregor atop that card with Cormier’s heavyweight title defense as the
co-main event.

“The more people I hear from, the fans and the media and all
this s—t, if I end up putting Conor McGregor not as a champion on the main
event, I guess I don’t have to listen to any bulls—t do I?” White stated.

“So if I didn’t do it this way and just made him the main
event with no title, no nothing, everybody would go f—king mental and go nuts
and start chirping about ‘oh he gets favoritism’. 100-percent.”

Obviously the deal never came together and then McGregor
abruptly announced his retirement from fighting on late Monday night.

McGregor had said he was ‘in talks’ for a fight in July,
which would have likely landed him on that UFC 238 card in Las Vegas. It
remains uncertain if a breakdown in negotiations regarding his return is what
ultimately led to McGregor saying he is calling it a career.

As of now no official decisions have been made regarding UFC
239 but McGregor’s future in the sport now seems a bit cloudier after saying
that he’s decided to retire.

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