Has Dana White been telling fibs?
Shortly after the announcement of Conor McGregor’s next fight, a rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 200, the UFC president appeared on ESPN to claim that he and Lorenzo Fertitta, Chairman & CEO of the promotion, tried to dissuade McGregor from fighting at welterweight this time but that The Notorious refused.
“Obviously Lorenzo and I tried to argue with him and say let’s go back down to 145 and defend your title, or if you really want the Diaz fight that bad, do it at 155. And he wants to fight at 170,” White said. “Even his coach, Coach [John] Kavanagh, tried to get him to get off this rematch and off the 170lbs fight, but it’s what he wanted.”
That somewhat surprised many due to the conclusion of McGregor’s first move up to 170lbs, which resulted in a second round submission defeat at the hands of Diaz at UFC 196.
Why would he insist on the same conditions with which he struggled mere weeks earlier?
But, if the comments of McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh are to be believed, it wasn’t McGregor who wanted to have this fight contested at welterweight at all, with the Irishman claiming it was the UFC’s desire.
@davehighton83 initially thought 155 would suit both guys better. UFC insisted on 170. we agreed. not that much of a biggie.
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) March 31, 2016
Very interesting indeed.
