White wants McGregor-Aldo, Nurmagomedov-Alvarez
White says he plans to have Alvarez defend his belt against Nurmagomedov, and McGregor to defend his belt against Aldo. Nurmagomedov says he has signed two contracts to fight Alvarez: one for UFC 205 in New York in November and another to fight him at UFC 206 in Toronto in December. However, Alvarez wants to fight McGregor, and McGregor appears to want to fight Alvarez. Reports of a McGregor injury affecting the fight are dismissed by White:
Conor’s foot is hurt, but he thinks he can fight. I want him to fight Aldo.
Nurmagomedov:
Alvarez wants to fight McGregor, because it’s an easy fight and it’s a lot of money to fight him. But he has to fight me. Dana White has told me, ‘He is fighting you. He has to fight you.’ His record is only 2-1 in the UFC and he loses like a chicken to Cowboy [Cerrone]. How did he even get a title shot? I don’t know why he is so scared to fight me…I would have to be careful in the first [round] because he does punch hard. In the second, I would start to catch him and in the third, I’d finish him. Mentally, he’s already lost to me…All I want is 25 minutes in the cage with Alvarez…Put me in a cage somewhere with him and lock the door. Then I can show the world who the best really is.
White: Diaz fought McGregor at 190 pounds
White says that Diaz was far heavier than measured at the weigh-in. Diaz weighed in at 170.5lbs on the day preceding UFC 202 and McGregor was 168 pounds.
The night of the fight Diaz comes in at 190 pounds. Now, Conor McGregor is [145-pound to 155-pound] guy and if you look at the wars he’s had with Diaz – you can only have so many of those wars in your career man. And it just doesn’t make sense. That’s why we have weight classes. It ended up being an amazing fight but you don’t want to keep doing that.
UFC 205 press conference
White introduces McGregor and Alvarez at the UFC 205 press conference. McGregor, on his value to the company:
4.2 billion dollars that’s what I’m worth to this company!
On his earnings:
[For UFC 202] $25 million baby! I feel by the time 2016 closes out I’ll be closing out on $40 million. This has been a good year for me.
On the move to Lightweight:
I’m very happy with the 155 pound weight limit. Of all the divisions I’ve ran through and around I feel 155 will be the one where I take over the most. So I look forward to that…I’m gonna put one belt on one shoulder, and the other belt on the other shoulder. You’re gonna need a f-ckin’ army to take those belts off of me…
Is Mystic Mac back?
I have nothing against Edward…I run New York. I run this whole shit, and Mystic Mac predicts I’m going to KO you in one round!..The Irish built this town. We built this damn city. Now we’re taking it back. I’m going to take out one of your own. But make no mistake, it’s all love.
He’s chinny. He has a chin. He gets cracked. He gets dropped. He’s a weathered fighter. He’s on his way out. He’s very lucky to be in the position he is in…One round it will take me to knock him out. This guy’s a balloon. He’s gonna be shooting panic. And that’s all she wrote!
Update on leg:
That fight was five weeks ago. I cam e out of that fight fresher than I wnt in. Look at Nate’s face. Nate will never look the same. I looked the same. I had a bruised foot…I was chillin here waiting for the call, and then the call came last minute, and I jumped on a plane. I’m brand new…I said it out straight ‘Beg me’, and they begged me.
On Alvarez:
He didn’t even negotiate new money for himself. Imagine that. Look at everyone up here. This is a lottery fight. They all dressed like me, they all talk like me. They all trying to to be me. Everyone in the game wants this fight. And this man took it on his last contract. Imagine getting the biggest fight in the history of the game, and saying shut your mouth kid you;re getting paid what you got paid what you got paid for your last fight…He’s just another broke bum, trying to sell some shit. Just another broke bum who can’t pay his bills…You’re blessed that I chose you. You’re blessed that I choose to whoop your ass.
Alvarez:
You ain’t got a shot. You’re here because you’re the easiest dude in this division.
Requests to quit UFC
Aldo requests to quit the UFC.
I heard about everything that happened through my coach. He had spoken with [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby Saturday and Sean still had no answer about anything, and asked if I could fight on November 12. My coach said that if it would be Conor, yes, and then Sean asked him if I would fight Max Holloway or Anthony Pettis. ‘Dede’ [Pederneiras] said that for those who I’d rather do a full camp and it could be on December 10.
We waited until Dana publicly said that he wanted this fight with McGregor to happen. And then we expected it to happen: I’d get my rematch to unify the featherweight belts, or I’d have my belt back and fight Holloway or Pettis, since Dana [White] said all the time that Conor couldn’t keep both belts.
But, to my surprise, I heard last night about the fight between McGregor and Eddie Alvarez, which was also denied by Dana last week. And to make it worse, he would keep the featherweight belt, and possibly having two belts at the same time.
After all this, I see I can’t trust any word from president Dana White, and who’s in charge of the promotion now is Conor McGregor. Since I’m not here to be an employee of McGregor, today I ask to cancel my contract with the UFC. After being fooled so many times, I don’t feel motivated to fight in the UFC anymore.
Responds to White’s weight comments
Diaz responds to White’s comments that he fought McGregor at 190 pounds:
Fuck them both. You know both those little bitches are afraid to fight me. That’s why they are fighting each other…And tell Dana I said get off Conor’s nuts. I left my room to that fight at 176 (pounds), so when I fought, I was probably 173. Quit telling people I was a monster to make him look good. I’ve been a lightweight my whole career…Eddie said I was next after Gilbert, then I called him a bitch in the lobby and he turned the fight down repeatedly until I beat Conor. Then he called every day asking for the fight. Bitch. What kinda fighters are these guys?
Also wants to retire from MMA
After White tells Combate TV that he will try to fix Aldo’s resignation from UFC, Aldo calls the station to say he wants the UFC President to leave him alone, and that he not only wishes to be released from the UFC, he wants to retire from MMA permanently.
Not even fight MMA, too. It has reached a limit now. I talked to ‘Dede’ a long time ago and he convinced me to continue. I went to the Frankie Edgar fight and won. I fought to win for ‘Dede’. I’m not angry or upset now, nothing. I never fought for money, I had a good career and legacy as featherweight champion. If [Dana] likes me and my family, I just hope he releases me. I don’t want a fight. I want to leave as I came in. The UFC and WEC didn’t give me anything. Everything I conquered was my merit and from my team. Nobody gave me anything. I conquered everything. And I gave them a lot more than they gave me back. I just want them to release me from my contract. I’m not a whore to sell myself [for money]. I don’t even want to fight MMA. I want to follow a career in another sport. That’s what I want.
White will not let Aldo go
White says that he has no intention of letting Aldo go.
We won’t cancel his contract. We know he got very emotional. We respect Jose Aldo very much. We care for the people around him…Khabib Nurmagomedov wanted a fight on the card and we got it for him. I’m sure we can find something nice for Aldo as well.
White: McGregor must relinquish title on UFC 205 win
White says that if McGregor defeats Alvarez for the Lightweight Championship at UFC 205 in New York, he will have to relinquish one of his titles before moving forward.
He wants to try to gain both belts and he will give up one of the titles after that fight in New York…He’s got some stuff going on right now, some personal stuff that I’m sure he’ll announce when he’s ready. But this fight made sense.
Coach: Aldo’s not bluffing
Aldo’s coach says that the fighter’s stance is not a bluff.
In my mind, from the conversations we had, he no longer wants to fight for the UFC. I’m traveling today. Hopefully, I’ll have a meeting with the matchmakers. I believe Dana will be at this event, so we can sit down and figure out the best way to terminate the contract…Yesterday we talked and he said he doesn’t want anything, not even millions of dollar proposals. In his head, he wants out…We’d talked about (this decision), because he’d already said, ‘If they screw me over this time, I’ll stop fighting for the UFC.’ And we believed it wouldn’t happen – also because of Dana’s statements…We thought, ‘If he’s going to fight in the upper division, we’ll keep the belt and fight either (Max) Holloway or (Anthony) Pettis. If he takes the rematch against us, I’ll fight him directly, all good, problem solved.
White: McGregor to make ‘left field’ announcement after 205
White says there is a deeper reason to giving McGregor the fight against Alvarez.
Listen, I battled this thing forever. Not only is it not fair to Jose Aldo, it’s not fair to Khabib and Max Holloway. So, believe me, I battled with this thing but there are… how can I say this? There are other circumstances involved in this that will be played out after the fight. It’s something completely out of left field but it’s Conor’s business, it’s not mine, and I’ll let Conor announce it when he’s ready to.
White: Rousey still biggest star in UFC history
White says Rousey is the biggest draw in UFC. Part of White’s reasoning comes from her fight against Bethe Correia in 2015 when she received a raucous reception from the home crowd despite facing a native Brazilian.
[She’s the biggest] by far. Not even close, by far the biggest star ever. Ronda Rousey is such a big star that when you go down to Brazil, I don’t know if you guys have watched any of the fights we do from Brazil — they don’t care who you are. They want the Brazilian to whoop your ass. When Ronda went down there, they cheered for Ronda over the Brazilian. Never seen that before in my life and will probably never see it again. That’s how big Ronda Rousey is.
Mayweather: White not a fighter, underpays fighters
After White says that he never thought that there would be a McGregor-Mayweather fight:
They seem to want the money, probably! But I don’t know how bad they actually want to make that a reality…I never thought it was gonna happen. Two totally different sports… Conor’s under contract with me. We can start with kicks, punches and elbows…[Mayweather] doesn’t have to learn to do anything, but he’s going to get kicked and elbowed.
Mayweather responds:
It’s easy for another guy to speak when he’s not in there, in a contact sport. It’s easy to get a tonne of money off these UFC guys while they’re not really getting paid and he’s living better than them. There’s a difference. They can say, ‘ah Floyd, he’s living better than all his fighters.’ Well, guess what, I was a fighter myself so I’ve put in the work on both sides.’
Announces Rousey vs. Nunes
White announces that Rousey and Nunes will fight for the 135 pounds title in UFC 207 on December 30th.
White: McGregor does not want to fight in Las Vegas
White says McGregor never wants to fight in Las Vegas again.
Conor McGregor hit me and said, ‘I don’t ever want to fight in Nevada again. Ever.’ Now how does that make sense for the state of Nevada? That you’re gonna try fine this kid and Nate that much money. It just makes people not wanna come fight in our state. And that’s not a good thing. And, guess what? Conor McGregor doesn’t need Nevada. He can fight anywhere. He could fight in Iowa. We could put his fight on an island off the coast of anywhere. It just makes no sense for the state. It’s just terrible.
Defends McGregor after fine
White says he supports McGregor after the Irishman was fined $150,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
If you threw a water bottle and got fined a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, would you fight there again? That guy could fight on an island off the coast of Peru and sell tickets. Las Vegas needs him, he doesn’t need Las Vegas…A hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a water bottle? That’s crazy.
White: McGregor can’t hold both belts
White says McGregor will have to give up one of his belts if he beats Eddie Alvarez in UFC 205.
If he wins, he’ll hold two belts. Then he’ll decide which one he wants to give back to me. He can’t hold both. He’ll have accomplished this. Then he’ll have to figure out which one he wants to give up. He can’t hold up two divisions.
Laughs at McGregor skit
After the Nevada Commission instructs McGregor to attend a media training sessions for the water bottle incident, Jay & Dan on Fox Sports show a skit to White:
[Laughing] Anybody who thinks Conor McGregor needs media training is crazy.
https://twitter.com/foxsportslive/status/786681362518384640
MSG gate record broken
White says UFC 205 has already broken the all-time gate record at Madison Square Garden. The gate record was set in 1999 with a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis which drew takings of $13.5 million at the door. The UFC’s own gate record of just over $12 million was set at UFC 129 when more than 55,000 people paid in to see Georges St-Pierre defeat Jake Shields in Canada.
We’ve been in all the biggest and best arenas all over the world – Madison Square Garden is a big deal. All the legendary fights that have been held there, all the legendary events and we actually broke the gate record for Madison Square Garden. So far, so good. I’m excited…Obviously it’s our first time getting into MSG and it’s been such a big deal getting there [that] I wanted to make sure when we went to New York.
.@ufc President @danawhite joined the Game 3 pregame show to discuss #UFC205, #CLEvsCHC & of course @PeteRose_14. https://t.co/otCsHJWIqx
— FS1 (@FS1) October 29, 2016
White: McGregor tough to deal, but ‘he’s worth it’
White says that, despite McGregor being sometimes difficult to work with, he respects the fighter.
He’s a little tough to deal with, but he’s worth it. The thing is all the other antics and everything aside, Conor McGregor will step up and fight anybody, anywhere, any time. I’ve never been in a situation where somebody pulls out the week before a fight and he literally does not care who he fights. Never been in that situation.
White: Rousey ‘winding down’
White says Rousey has informed him of her retirement intentions as she plans to commit full time to acting.
I don’t wanna take the wind out of her sails. Let her say her own stuff but obviously I know what’s going on with her. But ya, it’s winding down for Ronda. Listen, Ronda Rousey’s made a lot of money. She accomplished what she set out to do… And she loves acting, she’s good at it and, if she dedicates herself she’ll be even better at it.
