‘There Will Never Be Another Conor McGregor’

The UFC president had an interesting take on half his roster attempting to emulate McGregor in the era of promotional smack talk and drama.

It’s been a big week for Dana White as he leads into the big UFC 239 card that anchors International Fight Week in Las Vegas on Juyly 6th. As part of these promotions he took some time to talk to Hashtag Sports about a variety of different subjects, from that Justin Bieber vs. Tom Cruise fight to women in the UFC to the possibility of another Conor McGregor.

On that last point, White sounds pretty pragmatic. He understands why half the fighters on his roster are trying to channel some of that McGregor bravado and ride it to some level of stardom. But he’s also been around long enough to know how unique it is to see that kind of thing work.

“It happens,” White said regarding all the McGregor clone hijinx. “When you see a guy who’s as successful as he is and he’s fun, I mean you see the guy’s fun and everything else, and you start thinking ‘well maybe if I act like this, I’ll have what he has.’ There’s only one Conor McGregor. People will always ask me ‘do you think you’ll ever find another Conor McGregor, are you trying to find another Conor McGregor? There will never be another Conor McGregor.

”But there will be somebody else who’s different in their own way,” he finished. “And they will become a star in their own way.”

You can’t argue with that. From Tito Ortiz to Chuck Liddell to Georges St-Pierre to Chael Sonnen to Khabib Nurmagomedov to the Diaz Brothers, all the biggest fighters have their own flavor of fame that came naturally. And when the UFC actually backs it up like with McGregor (versus fighting it with the Diaz and Cyborg types), that flavor can cross over into the mainstream pretty effectively.