Dana White rubbishes Conor McGregor allegedly ducking Justin Gaethje five times: "I don't know if that's true"
Justin Gaethje's manager recently claimed that Conor McGregor has turned down a matchup against his client five times. However, Dana White dismissed the notion that McGregor was unwilling to fight Gathje.
For context, in a recent interview with Submission Radio, Gaethje's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, discussed a potential bout between McGregor and the former BMF champion. Abdelaziz slammed the former UFC double champion, pointing out that McGregor has declined to face Gaethje five times in the past few years.
''[Conor McGregor] got offered this fight at least five times. He never wanted to have to do anything with Justin Gaethje. He said the reason he didn’t want to fight Justin was because Justin talked bad to him on Twitter and Instagram before and the history we have with him. He didn’t want to lose to our team, I guess.''
Check out Ali Abdelaziz's comments below (18:49):
However, at the 'Dana White's Contender Series' post-fight press conference on Tuesday, White dismissed Abdelaziz's accusations, saying:
''I don't know if that's true. I've said this many times and I'll say it again, I mean, we actually have video footage of Lorenzo and I walking into his [McGregor] house that he was renting here. He just woke up, telling him the fight fell out, and he's literally leaving going, 'Well, I'm going to train, let me know who I'm fighting when I get back.' We've never had those kind of issues with Conor McGregor.''
Check out Dana White's comments below (7:59):
Ali Abdelaziz alleges that the UFC asked him not to say anything negative about Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor was the target of an angry tirade from MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz in the aforementioned interview with Submission Radio. Abdelaziz stated that the promotion executives instructed him not to bad-mouth McGregor.
Per Abdelaziz, this is why Michael Chandler hasn't turned on 'The Notorious' and continues to be somewhat courteous despite their matchup's repeated delays.
"Even the UFC told me this - ‘Hey, leave him alone. Don’t talk with him. He doesn’t like to fight people who talk bad to him on the internet.' Why do you think [Michael] Chandler [was] being so nice to him? Why? Because he was being told not to talk bad to Conor.'' [19:24]
McGregor is expected to return to the octagon in early 2025.