A few hours earlier, Ariel Helwani gave his take on Conor McGregor’s UFC return and whether the former UFC double champion will fight at the White House.
McGregor has shown interest in fighting on June 14 and was rumored to take on Michael Chandler. However, Dana White dashed Chandler’s hopes by opining that he’s not interested in making this fight happen any longer.
Next, ‘The Notorious’ was rumored to fight Jorge Masvidal, until the UFC CEO referred to this idea as “goofy sh*t.”
However, there is good news for Conor McGregor as White stated that the Dubliner is in contention for a spot on the White House card.
The UFC brass has started to map the fighter lineup for the June 14 card today, and Ariel Helwani thinks Conor McGregor fighting at the White House is unlikely, and his explanation makes a ton of sense.
Ariel Helwani believes the UFC is saving Conor McGregor for a “PPV in July”
Earlier this month, the Irishman, who is the highest-generating PPV fighter of all time in UFC history, declared that his current UFC contract (which has two fights left) is essentially void due to the promotion’s $7.7 billion, seven-year deal with Paramount. ‘The Notorious’ claimed that since the Paramount deal has no PPV points and his contract was based on pay-per-view sales, he now has to renegotiate and pen down a new contract, which he plans to do in February.
Returning to Ariel Helwani’s claims, the journalist explained that since the White House card would not be a pay-per-view event, with no live gate and no sponsors on the canvas, the promotion will likely save Conor McGregor for a major pay-per-view in July instead of putting him on the June 14 card.
According to Helwani, the UFC doesn’t want to waste its biggest draw on an event where the company can’t generate real money. He said:
“It’s about to get really interesting with Conor McGregor and the UFC. When asked about Conor’s recent comments, Dana White is doing that thing where he says, ‘I don’t hear of anything.’ I don’t buy that for a second. I believe he hears everything. I remind you, when the White House card comes around on June 14, there will be no PPV. There will be no gate. And from what I’m hearing, there won’t be any sponsors either. That’s going to make things very tricky. I’m not saying Conor won’t come back, but they’ve got a PPV in July. Maybe they save him for that and sell tickets, gate, and all that.”
Helwani added that at the end of the day, there are a lot of moving parts and numerous possibilities. So, if the UFC decides to put Conor McGregor on the White House Card, then it will most likely be against Paddy Pimblett.
“If he [Conor McGregor] is involved, I could see a scenario where it’s him vs. Paddy, if it’s not Chandler.”
Check out Ariel Helwani’s comments below:
