The wars between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz have brought the UFC the highest pay-per-view buys, landing both events in the top five highest money generating UFC events. Now that the score between the two warriors is even, one can’t think about missing a final showdown between the two. But Dana White begs to differ.
Despite the attention the UFC received outside the MMA world and the money that pooled into the company’s bank account, White is against a third bout between Diaz and McGregor.
“You can’t do three,” White said at Hot 97 in New York recently.
“"Here's the thing, Conor McGregor is a guy who steps up when fights fall out. He doesn't give a (expletive). He's legitimately that guy. I've been on the phone and I've stood in the living room many times and looked guys in the face when their opponent pulls out, nobody faces that adversity the way that Conor McGregor does. It's awesome and it makes me respect him very much.”
Despite complimenting McGregor’s ability to adapt to the situation, he made it clear that he isn’t in support of a third Diaz-fight. White says that Diaz weighed 190 pounds during the fight night while the ‘Notorious one’ walked into the octagon at 167.
"That's why we have weight classes. It ended up being an amazing fight, but you don’t want to keep doing that."
White praises McGregor’s courage to accept challenges regardless of the weight class. Something many would refuse, and that’s one of the primary reasons McGregor has been granted so much freedom.
"That's why I give this guy way more rope than I give anybody else. Conor can say whatever the hell he wants to, the guy steps up on four days notice, he can say whatever he wants,” said White.
Diaz became the first to defeat McGregor in the Octagon when he tapped the Irish star at UFC 196. And McGregor evened up the score with a majority decision victory at UFC 202.
"I don't know. 1-1's good, they shouldn't have fought in the first place. We'll see what happens,” White said.
