Dana White says he is planning to meet with Conor McGregor at some point within the next several days, and the UFC president is not ruling out the possibility of McGregor’s rematch against Nate Diaz taking place sooner rather than later.
In an interview with “The Dan Patrick Show” on Wednesday, White said he has been in contact with McGregor and things between the two are “great.”
“Conor and I have been talking every day,” White said, according to Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting.com. “We’re gonna have dinner next week. Our relationship is great. We’re gonna put the little speed bump in the road behind us and move forward. Everything is great.”
To recap, McGregor shocked MMA fans a few weeks ago when he tweeted that he has decided to retire. That turned out to be a lie, and we later learned that he had been pulled from his UFC 200 fight against Diaz because he refused to promote the bout the way his contract stated he was required to. McGregor later tweeted that he worked things out with White and that he was back on the UFC 200 card, and that was also a complete lie.
McGregor also ripped the UFC in a statement (read it here) for not allowing him to focus on training more and promoting less. A report then indicated that White was now going to force McGregor to fight Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo before rescheduling his rematch against Diaz. But on Wednesday, White made it seem like McGregor could still fight Diaz next.
“McGregor is ready to fight on 200,” White told Patrick. “The thing that has made Conor McGregor a massive star and why people love him is this kid loves to fight. He’ll fight anybody, anywhere, any time. He goes in and goes for broke. His fights are exciting and fun, leading up to them, during them and after them. McGregor is ready to fight.”
McGregor is currently the biggest draw the UFC has. In the rare event that White forced him to fight Aldo or Edgar and McGregor ended up losing, that would devalue the McGregor-Diaz rematch. It’s best for everyone if White and McGregor bury the hatchet and the rematch happens in the near future.
