Dana White Reacts To McGregor vs. Cerrone Falling Apart

It appears the awaited McGregor vs. Cerrone fight has fallen apart.

The fight seemed all but booked when McGregor agreed to fight Cerrone on Twitter after he beat Alexander Hernandez in the co-main event of January’s UFC on ESPN+ 1. UFC President Dana White confirmed he would book the fight if both combatants wanted it.

But all was not as good as it seemed. White soon stated they were not ‘even close’ to booking the fight. UFC Octagon commentator Joe Rogan recently hinted that the reason holding it up was the UFC wanting it to be a co-main event slot, something McGregor didn’t want to do. Cerrone essentially confirmed just that in an interview with ESPN today.

The UFC is reportedly close to booking ‘Cowboy’ in another fight. White told ESPN he is close to signing Cerrone vs. Al Iaquinta for July 6’s UFC 239 in Las Vegas. As for McGregor, well, White said he wants a much bigger fight – one he may not get (via MMAjunkie):

“The fight just didn’t happen. What Conor really wants is to fight Khabib. Let him figure out what’s next, but in the meanwhile, (Cerrone) was in my office yesterday. He wants to fight.”

‘Cowboy’ may be the most active fighter on the UFC roster, but McGregor is not. He has one UFC fight since November 2016, his UFC 229 loss to Nurmagomedov in a one-sided drubbing. He has headlined a pay-per-view in a non-title fight before for his UFC 202 rematch with Nate Diaz.

Cerrone believes a bout with ‘The Notorious’ is worth a headlining spot, but he doesn’t make that call. What he does is fight, and he’s only waiting so long to do so again:

“I call the UFC and tell them what to do, they tell me to shut the f— up and go sit in the corner,” Cerrone said. “I don’t have any say on that stuff. What I do know is July is the latest I’m fighting. That’s the f—ing latest. I will not wait longer than that.”