Conor McGregor reached levels in the sport that nobody could have imagined, but Dana White has made a bold remark regarding status in the UFC.
Like very few before him in mixed martial arts, the Irishman transcended the company and was a key player in all of its future success. Earning his flowers from the boss, Conor McGregor is considered a gem by Dana White and co.
“I call him the unicorn,” White said about McGregor. “The way that I look at the sport is, when you find a unicorn like Conor McGregor, we talked about this at the CBS town hall today.”
“It’s like, when he would roll into a press conference, you know, he would come in and say, ‘I run this whole thing. Yeah, you guys, nobody would be making money here if it wasn’t for me.’ You just let a guy like that do his thing.”
“In my business, when a guy like that pops up or a Ronda Rousey or a Chuck Liddell, it’s a home run.”
While fighters like Ronda Rousey and Chuck Liddell were celebrities outside of the cage, nobody before or after has quite hit the heights of Conor McGregor.
The 37-year-old left a lasting impression on the sport, with many who came after him, no matter how talented, being referred to as clones or imitators.
Despite holding 8 of the top 10 UFC most-bought PPVs, a fighter of Conor McGregor’s caliber is no longer needed, claims Dana White.
Instead of looking for another once-in-a-lifetime athlete, White is hoping to find entertaining fighters capable of finishing fights. Alex Pereira is the ideal type of competitor the promotion is seeking, one who demands attention from fans even without the trash talk.
“But at the end of the day, all I care about is: Who’s the baddest dude in the world or who’s the baddest woman in the world?”
“Can you fight? If you can fight and you finish people, you know, that’s what I need.”
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To have a showman on the level of Conor McGregor is rare, and if he couldn’t back up what he was saying, he wouldn’t be able to fast-track the UFC into the eyes of the casual fan.
Luckily for the sport, McGregor became a household name before suffering defeat under the spotlight, but Dana White revealed that his time hoping fighters win for the company’s sake is long gone.
“I’ve sort of gotten over all of that,” White continued. “You know, early on in the beginning, I thought, ‘Oh my god. If this guy doesn’t win, we’re in big trouble.'”
“None of it’s true. Because what happens is, whoever wins, wins and they go on, and they have their own journey and their own storyline and however it plays out.”
“Yeah, I stopped sweating that stuff a long time ago.”
Several fighters added to their brand by beating Conor McGregor. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz, and Dustin Poirier likely never gain as much traction in the sport if they don’t earn big wins over the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion.
However, even with his loss, Conor McGregor’s story in the sport is considered one of the best. Dana White believes he and Ronda Rousey’s time in the octagon should be celebrated.
“I would probably say [McGregor] and Ronda,” White said.
