Dana White Talks McGregor vs Khabib, Cejudo vs Aldo & Jones vs Reyes
Conor McGregor got back to winning ways at UFC 246, finishing ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in just forty seconds. But while his fans celebrated, many other fans criticised the Irishman and the UFC for handpicking his opponent.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Dana White was asked whether McGregor handpicks his opponents.
“First of all, Conor McGregor does not handpick his opponents. You know, Conor McGregor has fought anybody that we have asked him to fight and who has been available. I mean guys have pulled out on Conor two or three times, Conor literally went to the gym and said ‘Tell me who am I fighting.’”
When asked about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s consistent comments that he doesn’t want to give McGregor a rematch, Dana said it’s not surprising, when they hate each other the way they do.
“They hate each other. They hate each other. If you think that you’re going to do an interview with Khabib and he’s going to say great things about Conor McGregor, it’s never going to happen. And if you interview Conor, he’s never going to say great things about Khabib. They hate each other.”
Dana had previously stated that if McGregor beats ‘Cowboy’ at UFC 246 and Khabib beats Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, they will rematch. However, the UFC president now believes that Conor may not want to wait that long to fight again.
“Yeah. Khabib, if he wins. But I don’t know if Conor wants to wait for him. We’ll see what happens. Conor might not wait. We’ll see what happens.”
As well as criticism of McGregor’s choice of opponent, the UFC boss has also been criticised for giving Jose Aldo the next title shot against the bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo. The former featherweight champion is coming off a razor close split decision loss to Marlon Moraes at UFC 245.
“I think he won [against Moraes]. I think the judges got it wrong and I think he won the fight. When you’ve done what Cejudo has done. And he agrees, he texted me right after the fight and said ‘Aldo won that fight’. And he wants to fight Aldo. He wants to fight the legend.”
Dana had a simple response for anyone complaining about the Cejudo vs Aldo title fight.
“Then don’t watch it! People are full of shit. People are full of s***. It’s going to be an incredible fight. And Aldo absolutely deserves this and Cejudo wants it. The champ champ, the guy who won belts in two divisions wants to fight Aldo. So what does that mean? And Cejudo isn’t a guy running around looking for easy fights.”
Dana was also asked about whether Dominick Reyes deserves an immediate rematch against Jon Jones, after many fans believed he won their first fight last month at UFC 247.
“I think he does too. You’d be crazy not to think he deserves a rematch.”
Although he stated that Reyes does deserve a rematch, Dana wouldn’t commit to confirming a rematch between the two.
“I don’t know. We’ll see how this thing plays out. Going into that fight, a lot of people didn’t know who Reyes was, they know who he is now.”
What are you thoughts on the Henry Cejudo vs Jose Aldo title fight and potential rematches between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes?
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