To say Dana White isn’t happy with Conor McGregor appears to be an understatement.
The UFC president reacted to McGregor’s surprise appearance at Barclays Center on Thursday — which included trashing a backstage area and throwing an object at a UFC bus, smashing its front window — in a media scrum with reporters.
“What happened today was criminal, disgusting, despicable, makes me sick,” White said (via MMAjunkie). “We, as an organization, need to make sure that this never happens again.”
White hinted that he may never again work with the Irish superstar, who is the UFC lightweight champion until Saturday night.
Was just with Dana White. Called it the most despicable thing in UFC history. I asked him if he wants to be in business with Conor McGregor anymore, he said, would you?
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 5, 2018
“Right now? No. Absolutely not,” White said. “Do you want to be in business with Conor McGregor right now? Do you want to chase this guy around for interviews and buy his fights? Do you? I don’t think anybody is gonna want to right now. I think everybody is gonna be pretty disgusted with Conor McGregor right now.”
Per White, a warrant is out for McGregor’s arrest, and his private jet is not allowed to leave Brooklyn. McGregor’s current location is not known at this time, but White said he expects either local authorities will catch the fighter or he will turn himself in.
“You can imagine he’s gonna be sued beyond belief, and this was a real bad career move for him,” White said (via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto).
On Thursday afternoon, moments after the end of UFC 223 media day, McGregor arrived at Barclays Center with several members of his team. His presence wasn’t exactly surprising, considering his lightweight title will be up for grabs in Saturday’s main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway, plus his teammate, Artem Lobov, was scheduled to compete on the card.
Lobov has since been pulled from his UFC Fight Pass bout against Alex Caceres due to his involvement in Thursday’s debacle.
McGregor and his crew’s actions caused an injury to lightweight Michael Chiesa, who is expected to face former titleholder Anthony Pettis on the UFC 223 main card. Chiesa suffered a facial laceration from glass shards, per a report. It isn’t clear at this time whether he will remain on Saturday’s event.
UFC 223 also features a strawweight title bout between champ Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
UPDATE: ABC News reported, per Okamoto, that a warrant for McGregor’s arrest has not been issued at this time, despite White’s claim.
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