Dana White on Conor McGregor’s UFC Ownership Demands: ‘We Will Get a Deal Done’
It’s been almost a year since Conor McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, and he doesn’t appear to be in any rush to return until he gets exactly what he wants. While speaking to reporters before the opening of his documentary Notorious in Dublin on Wednesday, McGregor said the UFC needs to “entice” him back into the Octagon by making him a co-promotor.
“They’ve got to entice me now because I came from a billion dollar fight,” McGregor said. “They’ve got to entice me. I want equity. I want ownership. I want to be a true partner, similar in the way I was in the Floyd fight. I was a promoter and I was a fighter, and that must continue for me to continue.”
McGregor went on to say there is “no doubt” he will fight again, but he must “eliminate all the outside stuff” before he does. He also said he’s in no rush to return to the UFC because he’s in a great position with his money “rattling around in the money counter machine.”
Even so, UFC president Dana White told TMZ on Thursday that he was aiming for McGregor to return by the end of the year. McGregor’s latest demands doesn’t make him think otherwise, either. While speaking to ESPN on Thursday evening, White mentioned that “Conor is the real deal and he’s a huge superstar, a global superstar, and we will get a deal done.”
“As we go into negotiations with Conor, there’s always all kinds of crazy stuff out there,” White continued at the UFC 217 news conference. “We always get deals done with Conor. Conor has been easy to deal with, and we’ll get it done.”