Dana White reacts to Conor McGregor's retirement - "I'm not talking to him. I have no idea why this is going on"
Imagine trying to run a combat sports organization during an ongoing pandemic, being the first one to resume live sporting events with a large section of the media and state governing bodies against you and two of your best fighters announcing their retirement and a couple of others contemplating moving from your company. Well, that's the situation UFC president Dana White is dealing with at the moment.
Dana White had his plans for his biggest superstar Conor McGregor. White had initially stated that he wants McGregor to wait it out until Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje threw down in September this year to decide the undisputed king of the lightweight division and then face the winner of that fight.
Conor McGregor's retirement has stumped Dana White
However, the Irishman recently took to Twitter to announce his retirement from professional MMA and though it has definitely stung the UFC president, White isn't really shocked to hear the news. Speaking on McGregor's retirement at the UFC 250 post-fight press conference, White revealed that he has no idea why or what led to McGregor's sudden and surprising decision to retire after committing to remain active throughout 2020.
“How the hell do I know? I’m not talking to him. I have no idea why this is going on. You want me to tell you why this is going on right now? That is a really stupid question.”
The UFC frontman was visibly irked when asked about why the promotion’s biggest stars appear to be either retiring or threatening to leave due to apparent negotiation failures with the UFC; with McGregor and Henry Cejudo falling in the former category and Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal falling in the latter.
“I am the only guy that is pulling off sporting events right now. I don’t know. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the next f*cking month with my business. I don’t know. I don’t give a f**k. If these guys want to sit out and retire right now, or anybody feels uncomfortable in any way, shape or form, with what’s going on, you don’t have to fight. It is all good. So if that’s what Conor McGregor is feeling right now, Jon Jones, Jorge Masvidal, I feel ya. It’s not like I’m going, ‘Holy s**t, this is crazy, this is nuts.’ Nothing is crazy and nuts right now, because everything is crazy and nuts right now. So on a certain level, I totally understand it and get it.”
White revealed being under the impression that the Irishman wanted to get back into the Octagon as soon as possible after being called out a variety of opponents, including interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier, reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and more recently, UFC legend Anderson Silva. However, White wanted McGregor to wait it out because he remains hesitant to book his biggest superstar in an empty arena whereas a potential $18 million gate could be made with McGregor on the card when the world returns to normal life.
“He’s been wanting to fight. He’s frustrated because he wants to fight. I’m sure that’s a piece of it. Who do you fight, and where do you fight Conor McGregor right now. ‘Fight Island’ isn’t even up and running until July. So if you look at all the problems to run a business like this, multiply it by a f**king million, and that’s where we are right now, and there’s a lot of other s**t that goes on behind the scenes right now. It’s a wacky time to be the first guy to be putting on live sports when a lot of people, who are nutty as hell, didn’t want you to.”