"The real Conor McGregor is back" - Dana White claims that The Notorious One is heading into UFC 257 with the right mindset
Dana White says that the "real" Conor McGregor is back, after revealing that their relationship is in a better place right now.
The UFC president and the promotion's biggest star fell out last year over the latter's inactivity. Conor McGregor wanted to fight three times in 2020, but the pandemic intervened. Dana White could not give Conor McGregor the opponents he wanted either. Disgruntled, The Irishman had leaked screenshots of private messages and took an accusatory tone towards Dana White. He also announced his retirement from the sport, yet again.
However, things are resolved now between the two of them, Dana White recently revealed in an interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto. He also said that from what he can tell after his conversations with 'The Notorious', the "real" Conor McGregor is back and is here to stay.
"The questions are always, 'This guy is so rich, how hungry is he? There's nothing more exciting or fun than a motivated Conor McGregor, when his head is in the right place. And you can tell when he is and when he isn't, and right now, he's in. My conversations with Conor, I know when the real Conor is here and the other Conor is here, and believe me when I tell you, the real Conor is here."
If something causes Dustin Poirier to withdraw from their UFC 257 fight right now, Conor McGregor would still fight whoever UFC offers him, said Dana White. That is the mindset The Irishman is at the moment.
"If something happened to Dustin Poirier, he is the Conor McGregor right now that doesn't give a s**t who we put in that fight. He's going to be, 'Who's ready? Who you got? I'm going to the gym, tell me who's showing up on Saturday.' He's that guy right now. That Conor McGregor is back."
Dana White: I was really upset with Conor McGregor
It is all cordial between Dana White and Conor McGregor now, but back when they had their disagreement, the UFC chief was really upset with the former two-division champion. At that time, Dana White even said that releasing the private conversations and dragging other fighters' names into it was "one of the dirtiest things you can do".
"We were in a really bad place then, I was really upset. It wasn't because he put out private messages. We were talking about another fighter. And I like Diego Sanchez. I have a lot of respect for Diego Sanchez. I care about Diego Sanchez. I talked to Diego face-to-face about it, and being the great human being he is, we're all good."
"I was really upset with Conor, but we fixed that and now we're all good."