Former UFC heavyweight standout Brendan Schaub believes Dana White and Co. are trying to keep Conor McGregor from pursuing a plethora of lucrative opportunities outside of the Octagon.
It’s been nearly three years since McGregor last competed, suffering a nasty leg break during his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021. Healed up and ready to go, McGregor’s quote-unquote “greatest comeback in combat sports history” has hit multiple snags with McGregor and the UFC often pointing the finger at one another.
Who’s truly at fault is anyone’s guess, but ‘Big Brown’ believes that we will see McGregor back inside the cage this June for a long-awaited clash with former Bellator MMA champion ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler. However, Schaub also believes that the Irishman wants to make this a one-and-done fight before looking to make millions on the boxing circuit.
“There’s more to that story that we’re not getting,” Schaub said during a recent episode of his podcast. “But it’s gonna be International Fight Week, Conor didn’t pull that out of his ass. It’s gonna be Michael Chandler. But I really think Conor just wants to do that one fight and then bounce, and make all the money fighting Manny Pacquiao, Jake Paul, and Nate Diaz in boxing or MMA in their own promotion in Dublin or wherever.
“That’s what’s going on there, UFC is trying to, you know, do what they do, and keep him under wraps. So, we’ll see what happens.”
Schaub Understands Dana White’s Perspective in Conor McGregor Debacle
On the flip side, Brendan Schaub can understand the UFC’s desire to keep McGregor on their payroll. After all, he is responsible for eight of the 10 highest-grossing pay-per-views in promotional history and will likely play a role in the UFC’s negotiations for a new broadcasting deal later this year.
“To Dana’s defense, he also was like ‘The reason we didn’t announce the fight is like he’s doing all this promo for his movie,'” Schaub said. “And he’s like ‘To do a movie tour promo, like, that takes all your attention. Now that that’s done, he’s going to go to a legit camp, and the fight will be announced.’
“He’s like ‘We’re just waiting ’till this movie, you, do their thing, and then we’ll piggyback on that and you get a fight announcement.’ So I’d assume we get a fight announcement pretty soon.”
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