What’s the latest word on “The Notorious” Conor McGregor?
There has been much to speculate regarding the UFC star’s return to the Octagon later this month in a welterweight matchup against Michael Chandler. McGregor is slated to headline a record-breaking pay-per-view event at UFC 303, though that could be in jeopardy following the sudden cancellation of Monday’s press conference in Ireland that went without answers as to why.
UFC’s Dana White Reacts To McGregor ‘Living His Best Life’
Viral video of McGregor partying at The Black Forge Inn several weeks out from the fight also leaves some room for concern. However, as a supposedly ‘crazy’ Ryan Garcia showed in his last boxing match against Devin Haney, there’s more than one way to promote a fight. This isn’t to say this is all a marketing ploy for UFC 303 but with as big of a star as Conor McGregor is, you can never be too sure.
“I don’t know,” UFC CEO Dana White said on Flagrant, when asked if McGregor partying was just marketing on the fighter’s behalf. “I honestly don’t know. He opened a bar out there: The Black Forge.”
White Makes Exception For Rare Muhammad Ali Comparison
Following their postponed presser, Michael Chandler was back at the gym the next day training at Kill Cliff FC as he has been doing for how many so weeks he’s been awaiting a fight for McGregor. Is Conor McGregor taking this fight camp with Chandler as serious as he should or is all just mind games to throw off ‘Iron’ Chandler? White seems to lean more towards the latter reason with McGregor earning a comparison to legendary boxer, the late Muhammad Ali.
“I will tell you this, and I don’t ever like to compare people to Muhammad Ali,” White said. “Cause to me, he’s the fucking [man] and f*** what he did in fighting just as a human, what that guy accomplished, right? But, I don’t give a fuck what anybody says… Ali, Conor, both level when it comes to mental warfare, really the two best of all time when it comes to mental warfare.
“If you look back at Ali and you look at what he did to George Foreman in Africa, you look at what he did to Joe Frazier…. Joe Frazier f****** hated Muhammad Ali so f****** badly. He’d show up at his camp outside and f****** do all this shit. He would predict rounds. He would come up with f****** incredible poems and sayings and things that he would do leading up to the fight.:
White continued.
“Then, you look at Conor McGregor, he’s picked rounds. I mean, the mental warfare that this guy had on so many of his fighters. And he would make these guys play into his game, get into their heads, f****** embarrass them, and outwit them in every way, shape and form. The Eddie Alvarez fight going into Madison Square Garden, he is literally at Ali’s level when it came to mental warfare.”
‘It’s Fun When They Show Up And Fight’
Who knows if Conor McGregor could be taking it up a notch mentally against Michael Chandler, but whatever the case may be, Dana White isn’t too worried that the party scene, of all things, will take McGregor out of his UFC 303 fight.
“I’m at a place right now with like the Conor McGregor’s and the Jon Jones’, where, you know, they’ve sort of laid the foundation of their legacy and what they have, and they’ve made a sh*tload of money. And it’s at the point now where when these guys do show up and fight, it’s fun,” White said, when asked if there was any concern regarding McGregor’s latest antics. “It’s fun when they show up and fight.”
White would then turn the conversation towards Jon Jones and how he should be the #1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet officially, an opinion he reiterated at the UFC 302 post-fight press conference on Saturday.
