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Dana White Says No to McGregor-Diaz III
By Jaime C. Feal
UFC President Dana White has stated he has no interest in a trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz and that he is “moving on.” Between McGregor showing up 30 minutes late and the water bottle throwing fiasco at the UFC 202 press conference, Dana has had his hands full trying to control the drama that surrounds these two fighters. Add in the fact that McGregor was pulled from his originally scheduled rematch with Diaz at UFC 200 for entirely skipping the press conference, and the fact that Diaz is now on McGregor’s pay scale ($2+ million per fight), and this matchup has really started to cause headaches for Uncle Dana.
Furthermore, Jose Aldo, the current interim Featherweight Champion, has been promised a rematch/title unification bout with McGregor or else McGregor will be forced to vacate his UFC Featherweight title. Nate Diaz has stated he doesn’t want to fight again unless it’s the trilogy fight against McGregor, and Conor said after UFC 202 that if Diaz wants a rematch it has to be in the 155 lb. weight division. Dana White even went as far as to say McGregor could fight Eddie Alvarez for the 155 lb. title if he wants. It seems like we have every reason to believe Dana won’t make a trilogy fight, right? Wrong.
Dana White is a glorified spin and hype man. He’s also the UFC’s de facto Public Relations manager. It is his job to divert the fans’ attention away from fights he currently does not want to make. Nate Diaz isn’t going anywhere, and neither is the ability for the UFC to cash in on that fight. But the UFC Featherweight Division needs to get sorted out and Jose Aldo needs a chance to avenge his 13 second KO loss to McGregor. What Dana is doing is hyping the fight(s) he is going to make next, while having the fans believe the McGregor-Diaz trilogy fight is impossible. Then in a year or two when they’ve cashed in on McGregor-Aldo II and possibly other fights, they’ll make the trilogy fight and cash in big on “The Notorious” Conor McGregor one more time.
Until then, it’s time to sell the McGregor-Aldo rivalry once again, and maximize their earnings by generating interest in that fight as opposed to any other McGregor fight they plan on making down the line. If one thinks Dana is truly not interested in ever making a third fight between two warriors who deliver action-packed fights and have strong fan-bases, then they also must believe that Dana White does not like money.
