White: If McGregor goes down that road with us it will be an epic fall

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor did a Q&A on Saturday from Manchester, England in front of a live audience of 5,000 that streamed on PPV. In it he declared his intention to next compete in a boxing match with Conor McGregor, and he wanted co-promotion.

It began with an Instagram post with an aggressive caption.

“I’m so made! Heading to do a Q and A in front of 5000 fans! You read that right,” wrote McGregor. “That’s more than UFC attendance tonight. And it’s on PPV at http://www.notoriouslive.co F*** the UFC. F*** Floyd. F*** boxing. F*** the WWE. F*** Hollywood. And f*** you too pay me.”

It could have been laughed off, but he took a fairly contrary stance at certain points about his employer, which has an exclusive contract to his combat sports participation.
That fight has been in the works awhile now,” said McGregor, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “Look, there’s a lot of steps to get through to get the fight going, but it’s the fight to make. It’s the fight the people want. It’s the fight I want. I know I’m confident going in there.

I’ve got the reach. I’ve got youth. I’ve got the confidence. I’ve got the unpredictable style. You can’t prepare for a style like me. A guy said to me, why conquer one world when you can conquer two? So I’m going to go conquer two worlds.

One-hundred percent, I believe the next time I step into a combat arena will be through the ropes wearing 10-ounce or eight-ounce gloves. I believe so.”

While Mayweather was clear he wanted to do the fight with the UFC’s blessing, he also made clear he was going to do it one way or another.

With the Ali Act, I believe I can, said McGregor. Especially now that there’s offers on the table. But I think it’s smoother if we’re all involved. I think we’re all about good business. I’ve done great business with the UFC, with Dana, with everyone. I think it’s smoother if everyone just gets together and we get it involved. But again, everyone’s got to know their place.

Everyone’s got to know their place. There’s Mayweather Promotions, there’s the UFC, and now the newly formed McGregor Promotions, and we’re all in the mix. So that’s what I’m saying. Nobody is my boss. I know Floyd likes to say Dana is my boss and this and he decides. Hell no. Nobody decides this. If they let people go fight jiu-jitsu tournaments, they can’t stop me going to fight a boxing fight. So obviously it’s smoother to do it all together, but look, everyone’s just got to know their place, and everyone does know their place. Low key, everyone knows their place, so we’ll figure it out.

[Mayweather] is the scared side, let’s be honest. He’s not trying to have a real fight. He needs rules to protect him. I don’t need rules. So he can say he’s this and he’s that, but in reality, he’s scared s***less. He is scared s***less. If I decide to just fight him straight-up – look, f*** the UFC, f*** MMA, f*** boxing, f**** sports fighting. Let’s just say we fight. It’d be the easiest fight ever.

So he can say what he wants and he can try to promote what way he wants, he can try to pick up his net worth – it was a nice little play when he crossed his net worth with my net worth, even though that net worth is completely wrong. … But it was a nice little play by him. I’m enjoying the little game we’re having back-and-forth. I can’t wait until we get it done and it’s like, there’s the date, let’s get the fans wild for this and let’s go have a proper knock under specific rules to keep you alive.

McGregor said he expected the boxing match to take place at the end of 2017 or early in 2018.

I’ll tell you what, for $100 million, I’ll sit for another year, McGregor said.

I’m twitching [from not fighting] sometimes, but f*** it, this is historic. Fighting Khabib what-the-f***-his-name-is, Tony Donkey, Jose, even Woodley for the third [belt], it’s not this. Sometimes you’ve got to be patient with situations, and I feel this is one of them. Plus, the situation around me, Dee’s about to have a baby, I’m looking forward to that. I’m in a different mindset right now, so I’m happy. Everything seems to just be working perfectly for me, so a little bit of wait is not too bad. I’m okay with it this time, for now.

UFC president Dana White responded at the UFC on FOX 23 post-fight press conference.

White was diplomatic, in his fashion, and offered an explanation for McGregor’s pre-Q&A Instagram.

Hey, listen, when you’re about to do a pay-per-view that you’re charging people five bucks to listen to you talk, I’m sure you’ve got to say some pretty crazy s***,” said White to Steven Marrocco and Justin Park for MMAjunkie.

But the UFC boss was also frank.

I’ve always shown Conor nothing but respect, and if he wants to go down that road with us, let me tell you, it will be an epic fall, said White

There was silence for a moment, before White was asked if thought McGregor would, in fact, go down that road.

I don’t know,” replied White. “It’s not up to me.

White also responded to McGregor saying his next fight would be with Mayweather.

Here’s what I think the chances are: About the same as me being the backup quarterback for Brady on Sunday, said White.

White offered Mayweather and McGregor 25,000,000 each for the boxing match, and a split of the profit to be negotiated. Mayweather ridiculed the offer, and White said there have been no talks since.

[I made an offer] because [Mayweather] was full of s***, said White. He said he had made an offer, which wasn’t true. So I made a real offer.

White offered a final quip about the odds of the fight happened.

I’ll be suiting up Sunday, he said.