This might explain why Uncle Dana failed to take questions at the post-UFC 194 press conference.
Dana White may contest that Conor McGregor is his promotion’s biggest star, but a lightweight title win would put an end to those questions once and for all.
McGregor’s star has rapidly risen over the past two and a half years but there appear to be few signs of his ascent slowing.
And according to journalist Jeremy Botter, McGregor might not be far off a breakaway from the UFC.
The power that McGregor now holds has seen his once close relationship with White, the UFC president, turn “icy”. Botter said:
“I believe that things between Conor and [UFC chief executive] Lorenzo Fertitta are okay but, from what I understand, Dana White has been frozen out of the process entirely and I don’t know why.
“There was going to come a point where… they’ve created this and now they can’t put it back in the cage.”
He added, “They went out and were Conor’s best friends – you’ve seen the video of him driving with Dana down the [Vegas] strip and they’re hanging out at his house when he was training here last year.
“They thought they had a new best friend but what they actually had was a guy that wanted to be their business partner.”
