Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White claims the promotion was discussing booking Conor McGregor for a bout in Brazil.
McGregor got into some trouble with the law earlier this year. The “Notorious” one smashed a bus window by throwing a dolly at it following the UFC 223 media day session. The bus held UFC 223 red corner fighters including Khabib Nurmagomedov. This was in retaliation to Nurmagomedov and his group confronting Artem Lobov in a New York City hotel lobby.
Conor McGregor In Brazil?
White recently appeared on “The Jim Rome Show” and talked about the bus incident, which landed McGregor in jail and he’s since reached a plea deal, and said that the former two-division champion was likely going to fight in Brazil (via MMAJunkie.com):
“There were a lot of people that were speculating that we had something to do with (the bus attack). We’re going to take our biggest star in the sport – which, actually, at the time, we were talking about not only getting a new deal done with Conor, but Conor actually fighting in Brazil – (and ask him to do the bus incident)? Conor can’t fight in New York now. We did an $18 million gate in New York (at UFC 205 with McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez), and (the New York State Athletic Commission) won’t have him fight in New York now. We’re going to take all that and risk that, for what? What would be the purpose?”
The stage is now set for what many are calling the biggest fight in UFC history. White recently said the pay-per-view buyrate for UFC 229 is now trending at 3 million, which is up from the 2.5 million mark. UFC 229 takes place this Saturday night (Oct. 6) inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Do you think Conor McGregor planned to capture welterweight gold before the bus incident?
