For years now, people have been talking about who the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport is. You could say it’s Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Conor McGregor and the list goes on and on.
During an appearance on The Michael Kay Show on Thursday on ESPN Radio, UFC President Dana White talked about various topics including who the best pound-for-pound fighter is. According to the UFC boss, it’s McGregor following his accomplishments at UFC 205 last month against Eddie Alvarez in which he won the UFC lightweight title.
“When you talk about the pound-for-pound, they don’t have Conor McGregor as the pound-for-pound – the media does the ratings – when you talk about what pound-for-pound really means, how is it not Conor McGregor? The guy was the [145] pound champion, [155] pound champion, and beat a guy at 170 [pounds]. That’s what pound-for-pound really means.”
While there has been a lot of talk from McGregor following UFC 205 including him wanting equity in the UFC, White shot down any speculation that there is heat between the two as he explained that he and McGregor are cool. White stated that he puts up with McGregor’s craziness because he is different and worth it. McGregor has put up record shattering numbers as the king of MMA over the past two years. While people ask White what he is going to do when bigger names fighters retire, White remains positive and thinks that they can just create new stars, which they have done.
“Conor and I are very cool. Do I put up with a lot of different stuff with this guy? Yeah, I do because he’s worth it and he’s different. But I’ll tell you this, people always ask, ‘What are you gonna do when Chuck Liddell retires? What are you gonna do when Anderson Silva’s gone? What are you gonna do when GSP’s gone? What are you gonna do when this guy’s gone?’ The list goes on and on…16 years later, it’s no different. Everybody was saying, ‘What’s gonna happen to the NBA when Michael Jordan retires?’..If you’re a fight fan, we bring you great fights.”
Fans have wanted to see the rubber match between McGregor and Diaz since their rematch in August. Diaz beat McGregor at UFC 196 by submission and McGregor beat Diaz by decision at UFC 202. White still remains hesitant of booking a third fight between the two fighters.
“The problem with the rubber match is Diaz is a 170 pounder. He’s a massive guy. Conor is a very talented guy, he’s very, very good. Every time he goes out there he looks better… [But] we should have never done it in the first place. That’s what weight classes are for. They wanted to do it, we did it. They wanted to do it again, we did it again. They’re 1-1. There’s only so many of those wars you can be in your career. It takes a lot out of you. Some guys go into wars like that and they’re never the same after it. Look at Meldrick Taylor when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. He was never the same after that fight. We’ve had those type of fights too. I believe that Rory MacDonald was never the same after the Robbie Lawler fight. That fight ruined him. I don’t want to do that to someone special like Conor McGregor. It’s just not right.”
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