Dana White and Conor McGregor always got along, but things almost got worse after ‘The Notorious’ launched a private conversation between him and White on social media in September 2020.
It wasn’t so much that McGregor shared his DMs publicly, but that it involved Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Diego Sanchez, for whom White always had great respect.
“We were in a really bad situation then,” White said of his relationship with McGregor in a recent interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto (h / t Damon Martin). “I was really upset. It wasn’t because he posted private messages. But we were talking about another fighter and I really like Diego Sanchez and I have a lot of respect for Diego Sanchez. I care about Diego Sanchez. I was really upset about that.
Despite being very upset with McGregor at the time, the UFC president says that he and Conor are in great relations towards 2021 and that he is excited about what the future holds for the Irishman.
“I talked to Diego face to face about this. Being the great human being he is, [it’s] okay and I was very, very upset with Conor. Conor, I fixed this, we talked and we got over it and we’re in a good place now. Me and everyone are always in a good place when it comes to business, ”said White. “Tito Ortiz fought here for years. We hate each other. He fought here for years. Business is always good, but that doesn’t mean we are doing well.
“We are in a good place for business and personally, Conor and I are in a good place now.”
McGregor will return to the Octagon on January 23 to face Dustin Poirier in the UFC 257 main event at UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, and White would like to see the former two-time champion fight at least two more times after that.
“In a perfect world for Conor to fight two or three times this year and one of them is the title fight, it would be incredible.”