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For a guy who earns more money in the UFC than any other fighter on the list, Conor McGregor seems to be engaging in many power struggles with the company's leaders. It's a battle of wills since he won the featherweight title in 2015. The UFC wanted him to make an immediate rematch against Jose Aldo. McGregor insisted on a lightweight title shot instead. When he lost Nate Diaz, his late replacement, he should have shouted on the phone to the UFC leaders to fight a second time.
He won these battles. But he lost the next when the UFC dismissed him from the UFC 200 because of his refusal to travel to Las Vegas for a press conference. It then took him several months to convince the UFC to let him face Floyd Mayweather, a confrontation between UFC President Dana White, who was initially actively hostile.
And then there's the battle going on between the two for McGregor to want a stake in the UFC. White said, "It will not happen." So McGregor said that he was retiring.
Equity within the UFC was not the only stumbling block in this latest round of negotiations between McGregor and his promotion. In a series of podcasts recorded before McGregor announced his retirement, White confirmed the rumor that a stumbling block between McGregor and Cerrone in July was a claim that the fight was to be co-opted. principal rather than principal.
White went on the unfiltered podcast of the UFC and explained why he wanted a title battle over McGregor.
"Yes, it's pretty much what we've been doing for years," he said. "We did some fights for which a championship fight was not a main event, and it was not very good. It did not work very well. "
"The reality is that it's not really what we do, but the media told me that they wanted to see it, the fans just said, so … we will see what happens. "
White explained the situation in an interview given to Robbie Fox on the Barstool Sports My Mom's Basement podcast, also recorded before the McGregor retirement tweet.
"Yes, it happened," he said. "Every time I deal with Conor, there is always something to treat, but we understand it. We were going to do it – the fight that was going to be on the map with him was probably going to be the heavyweight championship. Should this be the main event?
Fox said, yes, that should be fine.
"Well, the more I hear about people, fans, media and all of that, if I end up putting Conor McGregor as a champion in the main event, I guess I'm not going to get it. will not have to listen. bulls, will you? White replied. "Everyone would go crazy and crazy and chirp:" Oh, you get favoritism. "
White thought that McGregor only featured the other cards above the fights for the title when he was wearing a belt.
"Conor McGregor is not the champion at the moment," White said. "He's ranked number 2 right now."
The Whites also shot down one of the potential opponents McGregor had once again announced.
Diaz's fight? Yeah, it's probably not going to happen, "said White. "But I would like to see him again on the [July] map."
Of course, we know what happened next: McGregor retired on social media and Dana White seems perfectly happy to talk about her bluffing. When the New York Times revealed accusations of sexual assault against McGregor, Conor's reporter's response spent more time attacking the UFC than defending itself against the ugly allegations.
"If Conor is to fight in the future, it must act in an environment in which fighters are respected for their value, their skills, their hard work and dedication to the sport", says the press release.
With White and McGregor clearly on different pages regarding clearing and card placement, we could see Conor's latest trading game coming to a legitimate retirement. It would not be good if the coldest heads got the better of it, but the UFC seems perfectly happy to end the McGregor era rather than following up on its requests, reasonable or otherwise.
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