White: NYSAC have been great
Dana White: “You know me. If I think something’s not right – they’ve been very fair with us and worked – look at all the stuff that’s happened.”
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the UFC. With Mayweather retired, he McGregor is the biggest PPV draw in combat sports.
But he never defended his title, so was stripped. That’s a huge step and the UFC needed to put together a huge fight to replace him. They got it with the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson. Then Ferguson injured his knee in a freak accident. That was a disaster.
However, the UFC replaced Ferguson with featherweight champ Max Holloway, and ticket sales went up. Then disaster.
New York State Athletic Commission doctors declared Holloway medically unfit to fight. The event was the next day. The fight was eventually offered to Paul Felder, but the NYSAC refused the fight, as Felder is just outside the top 15. Felder’s opponent Al Iaquinta took the fight, but he had weighed in at 155.2, under the regular lightweight limit, but shy of the 155.0 required for a title fight. So if Iaquinta had won, there would be no belt.
UFC president Dana White could have chafed at the regulation, but instead was appreciative of the efforts made by executive director Kim Sumbler’s staff.
[Holloway] got to 160 and apparently the commission didn’t like how he looked and didn’t want him to continue cutting weight, said White to reporters at a media scrum, as transcribed byRyan Harkness for MMA Mania. And if that’s the way they feel, it’s the way I feel too.
It’s definitely interesting dealing with New York. Very different from everywhere else. But these guys just had a situation here not too long ago so I think they’re overly cautious, which they should be. But I can tell you, you know me. If I think something’s not right – they’ve been very fair with us and worked – look at all the stuff that’s happened.
We’re still here, we’re having an event, the gate’s still where it was and everything’s good, so … they’re different and they have their own rules and regs, but they’ve been great to us.
White was referring to the NYSAC’s mishandling under different leadership of heavyweight boxer Magomed Abdusalamov who collapsed after a fight, took himself to the hospital, and is now permanently paralyzed. Under Sumbler the commission is vastly improved; she and the entire NYSAC staff earned and deserve the praise.