Conor McGregor revealed private messages with Dana White (Photos)

Conor McGregor shows his texts and negotiations with Dana White.

As part of a long-winded Twitter rant on the current status and future of his fighting career, Conor McGregor posted what appeared to be screenshots of messages shared between him and UFC President Dana White.

McGregor took to the social media platform on Sept. 25 to originally address and accept Diego Sanchez’s request for his retirement fight to be against the former two-division UFC champion.

It ended up, however, turning into a reveal of failed negotiations between him and the UFC — as an explanation for why he hasn’t fought since his UFC 246 return and victory over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, and eventually announced retirement for the third time in the immediate aftermath of UFC 250.

Conor McGregor reveals conversations, negotiations with Dana White

One accusation that has always been thrown about McGregor is the Irish star’s preferential treatment he gets from the MMA promotion — from his stay towards the top of the rankings despite constant inactivity, to him potentially getting title shots in spite of said activity, to the UFC keeping itself connected to McGregor in spite of McGregor’s criminal behavior over the last couple of years.

But the text conversations show not everything can be smooth sailing between the former champ-champ and the UFC president.

In spite of McGregor being 32 years of age, the father to two children and one of the biggest stars MMA has ever seen, it’s kind of funny that White continues to refer him to as “kid” (which is a Dana White-ism in itself).

It’s also worth noting the negotiations that go on between White and McGregor — with both looking to do what they feel is best for their business.

As part of the conversation, McGregor reveals his original, pre-COVID era comeback plan was for a fight in Los Angeles during May and a fight in his home of Dublin, Ireland, in August (namely one against Sanchez) before a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov in December.

White denied McGregor’s plan on multiple accounts, namely that there was no LA event scheduled for 2020 and saying the UFC would “lose its promoters license” for making McGregor vs. Sanchez. McGregor would respond that he thought Sanchez’s most recent fight by that point was one of his best in spite of him getting dominated by Michel Pereira before an illegal knee gave Sanchez a controversial DQ win. This also came weeks after McGregor destroyed a struggling Cerrone in under a minute.

The conversation also showed McGregor vs. Justin Gaethje was on the table, but McGregor wanted that as his May fight in LA. White claimed that the UFC was using late spring/early summer for international touring and wouldn’t be coming back to the U.S. until July for the annual International Fight Week, which White wanted McGregor vs. Gaethje to take place.

The final part of the conversation shows that both McGregor and White were under the impression McGregor would not step in on short notice to fill in if either Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson fell out of their originally scheduled UFC 249 clash on April 18 in Brooklyn, with McGregor claiming he’d rather have a pay-per-view event built around his matchup for more guaranteed buys.

McGregor has now once again turned his attention to a potential boxing return to take on the legendary Manny Pacquiao, and while that fight doesn’t sound competitive, it seems more likely to happen in the short-term than a UFC return at the moment,

A look into this conversation between McGregor and White tells what some of us in the MMA community have felt was going on. With no fans, and therefore no gate, it may not do justice for McGregor to come in and compete on the card. And while McGregor had his own plan and outlook for 2020, White only has certain cities and events he’d want to use his big-money star for.

Perhaps we will see McGregor back in the cage once fans are allowed back in some capacity to UFC events. But if there’s anything that this text conversation shows us, the relationship between McGregor and White may not be as smooth sailing as we think it might be.

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