As “The Notorious” Conor McGregor makes his walk to the Octagon on Saturday evening to fight Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, it could be the beginning of the end of McGregor’s reign as the UFC’s second-ever 145-pound champion. That’s what UFC President Dana White seems to be predicting at least.
“I think if [McGregor] wins impressively [Saturday], he doesn’t even go back to [145 pounds],” the UFC President said on Friday in Las Vegas. “That’s what I think. That weight cut is horrible for him. He looks terrible. I’m sure he feels terrible. I think he stays at 170 if he wins tomorrow.”
If White is correct and McGregor does stay at 170 pounds, where he will be fighting for the first time tonight against the younger Diaz brother, it would likely mean the end of his reign as UFC Featherweight Champion without ever having defended the title since capturing it from the previous champion and the only other man in UFC history to hold that particular title, Jose Aldo.
According to White, however, if McGregor does stay at 170 or doesn’t drop back below 155 due to the atrociously hard cut down to 145 pounds, vacating the UFC Featherweight title will be a “non-issue.”
“That would be a non-issue if he doesn’t go back and he understands that,” White said. “Listen, when you’re dealing with Conor McGregor, he’s a smart guy. He gets business. He’s not unreasonable about anything and he will fight anybody, anywhere at any time. How can anybody have a problem with that?
“When you’re dealing with super talented people, they’re always going to be quirky and different in their own ways. But no matter what you are, when you act and fight and step up for anything the way Conor does, you can’t deny the kid.”
Don’t forget to keep MMANews.com in mind for your source of UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz live round-by-round results coverage later this evening. As we always say, we’ll gladly take the proverbial “Pepsi Challenge” against any other MMA website in the world in terms of having the fastest-updated and most-detailed round-by-round live results coverage of a UFC event. No one can match MMANews.com for live MMA results coverage, something we will proudly put on display yet again later this evening. We hope to see you here!