Dana White Reveals If Conor McGregor Will Retire After Floyd Mayweather Fight
MMA may be moving along at a snail’s pace during a ho-hum start to 2017, and a lot of that has to do with lightweight champion Conor McGregor‘s absence from the octagon as he chases a lucrative boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, a bout that is reportedly at a standstill itself.
Rumors recently arose from a Showtime Sports exec that talks of the bout had stalled because the UFC was worried their golden goose would promptly retire after securing a potential nine-figure payday against “Money,” but UFC President Dana White told TMZ that simply isn’t true in an interview this week:
“I saw a quote the other day from a guy from Showtime who said that I’m stalling the thing [Mayweather vs. McGregor] because I’m worried that McGregor will retire after this fight, which is completely false and not even close to being true.”
White suggested the combat sports world simply pump their brakes a bit and be patient, as a once-in-a-lifetime bout is difficult to navigate and will take a long time to make a reality:
“To get a deal like this done, this doesn’t happen in a couple months. It’s gonna be a tough deal to get done, if it gets done at all.”
Indeed a deal like that doesn’t get done in a couple months, as McGregor vs. Mayweather went from what seemed like a a laughing matter to something that looked like a near certainty just a couple months ago before talks died down.
But the UFC’s biggest star by far remains on the sidelines in a time where they need him the most, so it would serve White and his new bosses at WME-IIMG to figure something out before 2017 goes down as the worst year in promotional history. Do you have faith they’ll be able to turn things around?
