Conor McGregor claims his fight atop the UFC White House card is a “done deal.”
That may depend on one of two different options for the June 14 lineup. But retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown believes the promotion is simply using the former two-division champion to promote the budget-busting extravaganza and “Notorious” will be nothing more than a casual observer come fight night.
Wouldn’t be the first time we got duped.
“Conor’s not fighting on it,” Brown told The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I don’t give a f*ck what anybody says. I don’t care what he says. I don’t care what Dana [White] says. They’re using him to promote it and using his name to get it out there. He’s not fighting on that sh*t. Even if that is signed and a done deal, I’m not going to believe it until he is inside the Octagon and a punch is thrown. Even in the walkout I might be like, something is going to happen here. When a punch is thrown, I’ll be like alright I guess he’s fighting.”
It would be the first time in nearly five years.
UFC White House will not have any fans in attendance, which means no tickets will be sold. If the promotion does include McGregor, it could be sacrificing a $20 million gate. That’s a lot of money to surrender for a vanity project on Paramount+, though it doesn’t seem like the promotion has much choice.
“I can’t think of six to seven fights that are gigantic,” Brown added. “Unless you get [Jon] Jones and [Alex] Pereira as the main event; which even then, is it going to be an exciting fight? Is Jones not going to f*cking take him down and finish him in a minute or two? Jon’s not going to f*ck around with him on the feet. I think the even bigger issue is they can make some pretty significant, good fights … but what about Americans? It’s at the White House. That’s the problem, they have so few American [stars]. That’s a problem.”
UFC is expected to finalize the UFC White House card in the coming weeks.
