Dana White has a pretty reasonable explanation for Conor McGregor’s UFC losing streak: money.
The longtime UFC boss appeared on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” this week, and revealed we can expect to see McGregor’s return to the octagon in 2024.
“He is back in the gym. He’s training,” White said, as covered by MMA Junkie. “I expect to see Conor fighting next year.”
McGregor’s rumored next opponent has been Michael Chandler, as the two coached opposite each other on “The Ultimate Fighter”.
McGregor has only fought in UFC four times since 2016, and has lost three of them; in 2021, he fractured his leg in the first round in a gruesome loss to Dustin Poirier.
White explained why McGregor has fought so infrequently and struggled to win in recent years.
“Here’s what happens, Piers, and you know this – I’m sure you’ve seen this with colleagues and friends and people that you know,” White said.
“Once a certain level of money is attained, to be the person that you were coming up, to be that hungry and work that hard and be that dedicated to the sport, or whatever craft it is you do, money changes everything. Conor McGregor has made that kind of money. It’s not a knock. It’s just a fact.”
McGregor has made a fortune both as a fighter and in business, most notably in the sale of his Proper No. 12 Irish whiskey.
White continued to elaborate on what he meant.
“When we sold the company in 2016, this was sort of a Microsoft of fighting,” White said.
“There were a lot of people that made a lot of money, and a lot of people left and they went and retired, or moved onto – you have to have a certain type of drive to make that kind of money, and you’ve seen guys in this sport when they make that kind of money, they’ll fight a lot less like Conor has, or they go on losing streaks because you are not that same person once you get that kind of money.”
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