A bold claim from UFC President Dana White.
Dana White has claimed that Conor McGregor ‘may never fight again’ as he questioned the Dubliner’s motivation to return to the Octagon.
The 29-year-old from Crumlin has not fought in the UFC since beating Eddie Alvarez in November 2016.
Having banked approximately $100m from his boxing clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. earlier this year, White believes that such an outlandish purse may have taken any motivation to go back to ‘the day job’ out of McGregor.
“Conor might never fight again,” White said. “He made $100million. I’ve got guys who made less than that who are lawyers and went to school their whole lives and quit working.
“When you go to school your whole life to be a lawyer, and you’re a good lawyer, and you make a few bucks and you’re done? The guys sitting home every day watching cartoons or whatever he’s doing. I don’t know.
“These guys make money and that’s it. Fighting is the worst – try to get up and get punched in the face every day when you have $100 million in the bank. Money changes everything with a lot of people.
“If Conor wants to fight again, absolutely we want Conor to come fight,” he added. “But if Conor walks away and doesn’t ever want to fight again, it’s part of the game.”
McGregor had been linked with a return at UFC 219 in Las Vegas at the end of December but his recent antics at a Bellator event in Dublin, at which he confronted the referee having jumped into the centre of proceedings, put a stop to that.
His old foe Jose Aldo insists McGregor must return to the defend his lightweight title or see it stripped from him.
“The UFC needs to do what has to be done, you take the belt away or make him defend it. I think everyone is waiting for that,” said the Brazilian.
