Dana White Claims Win Over Donald Cerrone Is ‘Crucial’ For Conor McGregor’s Career

Conor McGregor hasn’t won a professional fight since 2016.

The Irishman defeated Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight title and become the first-ever UFC double champion. After that, McGregor suffered a TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather in his professional boxing debut, before returning to the UFC where he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Now, McGregor will fight for the first time since October of 2018, when he headlines UFC 246 on pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 18. He’ll meet Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in a welterweight main event. UFC president Dana White recently joined Stephen A. Smith on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” to preview the bout.

White claimed that this fight is crucial for McGregor’s UFC career, and he must pick up a victory. (H/T BJPenn.com)

“He has been training hard, he has been getting ready for this moment,” White said. “The problem is, Stephen A. you’ve seen this, not just in fighting but in other sports, when a guy has 100 and something million dollars, he’s young, he’s famous and now he is unbelievably rich, it is hard to keep the train on the tracks for some guys. That has definitely been Conor McGregor.

“I think he is at a point now where he realizes he needs to get his act together. This win over ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone if he can pull it off is crucial in his career right now and his future. So, he is taking it very serious, he wants to stay active. That is why this fight is at 170 and hopefully we will get three good fights from him this year.”

Should McGregor emerge victorious, and Nurmagomedov successfully defends his title against Tony Ferguson in April, White has hinted that a rematch between the Irishman and Russian is what’s next for the UFC.

What do you think about White claiming a win over Cerrone is crucial for McGregor’s career? Do you agree?