Dana White Claims Conor McGregor Turned Down Offer to be Replacement Fighter For UFC 249

Dana White has been exchanging verbal jabs with stars like Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal as of late, and now it looks like he could end up doing the same with Conor McGregor.

White claims McGregor was offered an alternate spot for UFC 249

Recently McGregor jumped into the headlines, after announcing he’s retiring from fighting. The former lightweight and featherweight champ says he has no buzz for the “game”, and McGregor also expressed frustration about the fact his next fight hasn’t been booked.

Well, more recently, White spoke with ESPN, and he was asked to comment on McGregor’s retirement. While doing so, White said this (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“He wants to fight Gaethje. Gaethje just won to get the fight with Khabib,” White claimed. “He just beat Tony Ferguson.

Conor had the opportunity to slide into that spot if Khabib or Tony fell out.

“He came back and said ‘I’m not a replacement fighter, I’m not going to do it.’ He would be in that position now if he took the fight. He didn’t, Gaethje did so Gaethje gets it.”

“Conor McGregor is frustrated right now because I mean look what’s going on,” White said. “Look at what we’re pulling off.

We’re literally just going to Yas Island right now to pull off these fights because the hardest thing to do right now is to get people into the country from other parts of the world.

We are a true global business. We’re the only one pulling off live sports right now. If I continue to do fights in the United States, I’m going to burn out all my American talent.

“Now we got Yas Island ready to go, it’s set up. This is just a matter of Conor being frustrated I think in that he can’t get what he wants right now. It’s just not possible.”

What could happen from here?

Now, it is true that since Gaethje stopped Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, McGregor’s let it be known he wants to face the new interim lightweight champ. He’s also argued that the champ Khabib Nurmagomedov won’t end up fighting Gaethje.

But, the part about McGregor not agreeing to be a replacement for UFC 249 is a bit unclear. One would assume that offer was tabled before the COVID-19 pandemic began prompting travel restrictions.

Ultimately, both Khabib and Conor were stranded in Russian and Ireland respectively, on account of travel bans. So, even if McGregor had said yes to being an alternate, he very likely wouldn’t have been able to attend UFC 249. 

All that aside, it will be interesting to see if McGregor responds to these comments from White.