White explains why there will be no McGregor-Diaz trilogy fight

UFC president Dana White came to MMA from boxing. It is well understood by students of the sweet science that there are fights after which one or both fighters are no longer the same, but lesser. Lesser in mind, lesser in ability. Lesser.

Those fights are hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi wasn’t one of those fights. Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald was. Those fights are beyond the HOLY F@$%ING $#!@ moments that define MMA; they simultaneously ascend and descend into the primeval.

In a remarkably frank moment during The Michael Kay Show on Thursday, UFC president explained why he doesn’t want a trilogy fight between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and the great Nate Diaz.

“The problem with the rubber match is Diaz is a 170 pounder,” began White as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “He’s a massive guy. Conor is a very talented guy, he’s very, very good. Every time he goes out there he looks better… [But] we should have never done it in the first place. That’s what weight classes are for. They wanted to do it, we did it. They wanted to do it again, we did it again. They’re 1-1.

“There’s only so many of those wars you can be in in your career. It takes a lot out of you. Some guys go into wars like that and they’re never the same after it. Look at Meldrick Taylor when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. He was never the same after that fight. We’ve had those type of fights too. I believe that Rory MacDonald was never the same after the Robbie Lawler fight. That fight ruined him. I don’t want to do that to someone special like Conor McGregor. It’s just not right.”

“When you talk about the pound-for-pound, they don’t have Conor McGregor as the pound-for-pound – the media does the ratings. When you talk about what pound-for-pound really means, how is it not Conor McGregor? The guy was the [145] pound champion, [155] pound champion, and beat a guy at 170 [pounds]. That’s what pound-for-pound really means.”

“Conor and I are very cool. Do I put up with a lot of different stuff with this guy? Yeah, I do because he’s worth it and he’s different. But I’ll tell you this, people always ask, ‘What are you gonna do when Chuck Liddell retires? What are you gonna do when Anderson Silva’s gone? What are you gonna do when GSP’s gone? What are you gonna do when this guy’s gone?’ The list goes on and on…16 years later, it’s no different. Everybody was saying, ‘What’s gonna happen to the NBA when Michael Jordan retires?’ … If you’re a fight fan, we bring you great fights.”

When McGregor beat lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, he said he was going to take time off until May, when he and longtime partner Dee Devlin expect the birth of their first child. Despite White’s profound misgivings about McGregor fighting at welterweight, that is the sole division he has expressed any interest in.

McGregor never mentioned fighting at featherweight, and that belt was removed. He dismissed the #1 lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov as a pull out merchant. The only MMA fight he has discussed is vs. welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, or the winner of the Woodley vs. Wonderboy rematch. And what McGregor really appears to want is a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.

White also had a not even veiled warning for the man he considers the P4P king.

“People start to get ahead of themselves and they start to get crazy,” said the boss. “The one thing, ego is a beautiful thing in the fight business. You have to have it. But ego destroys everything. Ego destroys the best – Guns and Roses can’t get together in the last ten years to put together another album or tour and play – it’s ego. The lists goes on and on of friendships and businesses and rock groups that have all broken up because of ego. It’s a dangerous thing sometimes too. You have to be careful. There’s a fine line with ego.”