Dana White admits it’s ‘impossible’ for Conor McGregor’s wealth not to have impacted him amid UFC return speculation (2024)

As speculation surrounding Conor McGregor’s MMA comeback continues, the UFC boss understands that a ‘hungry’ Notorious might never return.

The legendary Marvin Hagler once said, ‘It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 am when you’ve been sleeping in silk pajamas’ and when it comes to former UFC double champion Conor McGregor, those PJs are notoriously difficult to leave behind.

Dana White on how wealth has impacted sports’ biggest superstars

Speaking to Shannon Sharpe via the Club Shay Shay YouTube channel, Dana White was asked whether the $100 million that Conor McGregor made from his boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr changed his motivation to compete.

“It’s impossible for that money not to affect you and phase you,” acknowledged White.

“The thing in fighting, the hard part about the combat sports world is once you start to make that kind of money and you say ‘well it never changed me’ – it’s impossible [for it] not to change you.

“It’s impossible to go from where you were [then] to where you are today financially and not be changed.”

As of June 2024, the Irishman’s net worth is reportedly sitting pretty at around the $200 million mark; his last appearance in the UFC was all the way back in 2021.

Yet that $200 million holding could very well be the defining factor in McGregor’s notable absence from the sport he once helped break out into the mainstream.

In a recent interview with Jim Rome, White worryingly stated that the outstanding amount in Notorious’ vault could very well be one of the main reasons why we might never see him back in action.

“Conor’s going to be 36 in July. He’s got plenty of money. I don’t ever think that guys like that, Jon Jones, who knows, maybe he’ll fight again, maybe he won’t. Conor McGregor, maybe he’ll fight again, maybe he won’t.

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“The other thing with getting older, you get injured a lot easier, you get hurt a lot easier. More injuries happen than did when you were younger, and you’re less willing to step in there with an injury than when you were young and hungry and broke.”

According to the UFC boss, only a handful of sporting greats have been able to maintain both their strength of schedule and strength of competition when so many millions of dollars are already in the bank – with Tom Brady and Canelo Alvarez being the two examples he offered.

“I’ll give you an example, people talk s*** but look at Canelo [Alvarez]; he’s still the man, it’s hard to stay at that level for a very long time but what’s this guy [still] clipping? 40 million a fight – a very unique few can do that.

“Conor is one of the very unique few who was able to capitalize on his fame, his personality and everything else outside of the octagon… To stay on top of your game for many, many years is very hard to do especially once money becomes involved.”

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Dana White shuts down rumor of a non-injury-related withdrawal

Despite the enormous hype and expectation surrounding his return, ‘Notorious’ will have to wait a bit longer before he earns another big-money payout from the UFC after being forced to withdraw from his UFC 303 comeback fight with an injury.

Addressing the conspiracy theory that the withdrawal was due to something other than an injury, White simply said to Rome, “Conor McGregor is hurt right now. It’s absolutely real.

“I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again, Conor McGregor has never done that,” White said in response to the notion that the withdrawal could have been related to a re-negotiation of his contract.

“Conor McGregor never leads up to a fight and tries to renegotiate a contract or get more money… He’s never done anything even remotely close to that. He is as solid as solid can be at being a business partner.”

Interestingly, only a few hours after the podcast had been published online, Michael Chandler took to social media to tease a potential fight against Max Holloway for the BMF title.

The main event for UFC 303 is now light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira taking on former king Jiri Prochazka.

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