Dana White is planning on having Conor McGregor fight by the end of this year, and he’s dealing with his “crazy” demands.
The wheels are starting to spin on the UFC return of Conor McGregor, but as usual, there are bound to be some hiccups along the way. Last night while doing a Q&A for his movie, McGregor stated that he wouldn’t return to the UFC without being a co-promoter or part-owner (via MMA Junkie):
“I was promoter on the Mayweather fight, and we’re in current negotiations. I ain’t stepping in that octagon again unless I’m part owner of the whole setup. I’m a promoter.”
This isn’t the first time McGregor has made seemingly ridiculous demands, of course. He is the man that stepped into a boxing right to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr, as he noted. So at the UFC 217 press conference today, people were wondering what UFC president Dana White had to say about all this. After all, no fighter has ever been in a position to seriously make these sorts of demands.
For White’s part, he just made it clear that no matter what is being asked for, they’ve always got Conor to sign on the dotted line and they will again:
“There’s always been as we go into negotiations with Conor. There’s always all kinds of crazy stuff out there. We always get deals done with Conor. Conor, he’s been easy to deal with and we’ll get it done.”
He was also asked by TMZ Sports if McGregor will return in 2017. And that is indeed the plan, according to Dana:
“Yeah. We're planning on it. He said he wants to, and we want him to. So we'll see what happens."
He was then questioned about the co-promotion thing by them as well, and he had a similar answer:
"The kid wants some money, the kid wants some stuff. And if there's anyone out there that's worth it, it's Conor McGregor. We've always figured it out with him and we'll figure it out again."
McGregor has stated that he’s currently in negotiations to fight UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson.
