Dana White Disputes Claims, Says He’s ‘Running’ Mayweather-McGregor Negotiations

Last night, a report surfaced from the LA Times indicating that UFC President Dana White was no longer involved in negotiations for a potential boxing match between former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. The report also said that the bout is being targeted for this fall.

Last month, White made headlines when he revealed that he had come to an agreement with McGregor regarding their side of the deal and that all he had left to do was strike a deal with Mayweather and advisor Al Haymon.

With that in mind, White recently disputed the report from the LA Times, saying that he is ‘running’ the negotiations between Mayweather and McGregor:

“We live in a world right now where you can’t believe anything that you read,” White said to TMZ. “Who else would be running the Mayweather-McGregor deal than me?”

“I’ve had a couple of bad days back-to-back with bad, ‘legitimate news stories’ with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and now the LA Times. Trust me, I’m running the Mayweather-McGregor deal.”

When presented with the idea that WME-IMG, a talent agency who purchased the UFC for a record-setting $4.2 billion last year, could be working on the deal, White responded with the following:

“What does WME know about making big fights?,” White added. 

Either way, the fight appears to be closer towards becoming a reality than it has ever been.

Mayweather has been out of action since Sept. 2015 when he scored a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto, announcing his retirement after the bout. Earlier this year, however, “Money” said that he was coming out of retirement to fight McGregor.

The “Notorious” one, on the other hand, hasn’t competed since last November when he picked up a dominant knockout victory over Eddie Alvarez to become the promotion’s 155-pound champion.

What do you make of White’s recent claims?