It took awhile for the UFC to come to terms with UFC 205 headliners Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor. But, after weeks of rumblings and reports, the deal is finally done.
In a Monday interview with ESPN’s SportsCenter, UFC president Dana White reiterated something he revealed last week: that McGregor recently suffered an injury. But White also stated that the Irishman was willing to take the fight, despite the injury, and that that’s what led to the highly anticipated lightweight title fight being added to the landmark card.
“So, after the Nate Diaz fight, [McGregor] injured his foot. And the doctor basically said, ‘There’s no real damage there, it’s an old injury, but you need to stay off your foot for a few weeks,’” White said. “Conor and I were going back and forth about the foot, and I said, ‘Listen, you’re not a doctor,’ and he told me, ‘I know my body better than you do.’ So I’ll give him that one, and he wants the fight. It’s the reason we all love Conor McGregor.”
White also gave some insight into the promotion’s negotiations with the featherweight champion. It’s widely believed that McGregor is tough to deal with money-wise, but the UFC president claimed that negotiating with him isn’t too difficult.
“It’s actually not that bad,” White said. “He’s an intelligent guy. The thing that I love and respect about Conor McGregor is that he loves to fight and he wants to fight everybody. So he’s my kind of guy.”
Without going into detail, White also added that McGregor is going through some things outside of the cage right now.
“He’s got some stuff going on right now, some personal stuff that I’m sure he’ll announce when he’s ready,” White said.
McGregor responded to the injury claims and gave his side of the fight being put together at the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference on Tuesday.
“Listen, that fight was five weeks ago,” he said. “I came out of that fight fresher than I went in. Look at Nate’s face. Nate will never look the same. I came out brand new. I had a bruised foot. I agreed to this fight — 10 days ago I agreed to all of this. And then, I don’t know what was going on. Something went on with [Alvarez’s] side. But I was chilling here waiting for the call, the call came last minute, I jumped on a plane and here we are.”