UFC boss Dana White shuts down Conor McGregor vs Manny Pacquiao fight rumours – ‘I don’t give a s*** about that’
Dana White has distanced himself completely from Conor McGregor’s proposed return to boxing and a potential fight against Manny Pacquiao.
‘The Notorious’ retired from MMA once again in June after failing to secure an ‘exciting’ bout and it remains to be seen if the former two-weight UFC world champion will ever compete in the octagon again.
However, his desire to return to the boxing ring has never been in doubt.
In 2017, McGregor competed against Floyd Mayweather in a bout billed as the most lucrative in fighting history and was ultimately stopped in the tenth round.
Despite coming up short in his professional debut, the Irishman told reporter Ariel Helwani prior to his UFC 246 comeback he wanted to win a boxing world title.
He also happened to let slip that his agent company, Paradigm Sport, had signed Pacquiao and that a bout between the pair at the Las Vegas Raiders’ new stadium would be something he would welcome.
The 32-year-old wrote on Twitter ‘Tinatanggap ko’ - which means ‘I accept’ in Filipino - and fans put two and two together to deduce a bout against the WBA welterweight champion from the Philippines was imminent.
However, when asked about this at the UFC Vegas 5 press conference, White had a simple and not-so subtle message for his former employee.
“I don’t care about any of that s***.”
Although McGregor's retirement would suggest he is free to fight the eight-weight world champion inside the ring, there are a number of complications.
The lack of fans in stadiums at this moment in time means losing out on large sums of gate money, and this is not something any promoter will want.
Also, McGregor does not fight anywhere close to Pacquiao’s 147lbs limit. His bout against Mayweather was at super-welterweight (154lbs) and he has fought three of his last five UFC fights at 170lbs.