After a lengthy media blackout, Thursday’s UFC 229 press conference at the Radio City Music Hall was Conor McGregor’s first appearance in front of the press. In the middle of all the verbal sparring between McGregor and lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was UFC president Dana White.
Upon seeing “The Notorious” at work on the mic once again after a fairly long period, White had this to say.
“It was dark, man. It was the darkest press conference I’ve ever been a part of,” White told MMA Fighting during a media scrum after the presser. “But Conor McGregor is the master of mental warfare. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think he’s better than any body, even Muhammad Ali.”
“You don’t ever want to say anybody’s better than Ali, but I think when it comes to mental war game in this sport, or any other sport, Conor McGregor is the best ever.”
White further out his most prized fighter’s prowess in terms of gamesmanship by bringing up that one incident at TUF 22, where McGregor called out T.J. Dillashaw for being a “snake in the grass.”
“Here’s the thing about McGregor, too. He’s so good at it, he studies,” White said. “He studies every little thing. He talks to people. He finds out stories inside the guy’s camp. Look at the whole thing that he did on the Ultimate Fighter with Urijah Faber, with T.J. Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt and all those guys. At one point he had Cody Garbrandt trying to fight him.
“He is the master. He is the best ever to do it. Nobody does it better than Conor does.”
UFC 229 will take place on October 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.