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Did UFC president Dana White intentionally announce Conor McGregor‘s return to the company at the same time that former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was walking out for his debut with the Paul brothers’ Most Valuable Promotions?
That’s what the Paul brothers and many fans believe, and the outspoken influencers weren’t shy about sharing their feelings on the timing of the announcements.
“The Coke head is back. Drop it during our event doesn’t matter. That just shows how pressed they are, little insecure boys piggybacking off our event,’ Jake Paul said of the announcement.
White, however, says there’s no correlation.
Dana White Claps Back At Jake Paul Over Conor McGregor Announcement
Not only does White deny that his announcement timing had anything to do with Ngannou or the MVP card, but he did so vigorously.
“Not a coincidence, I had a f—ing fight here that night,” White told Fred Talks Fighting. “Anybody who thinks that I gave a shit what was going on anywhere else is out of their f—ing minds.”
“We announced it as soon as we got it done, and we were in the middle of our event,” White added. “I don’t give a f— what those guys are doing. Are you kidding me?”
Are White and the UFC afraid of the rise of MVP MMA? Probably not. The UFC undoubtedly has a stranglehold over the MMA world at the moment.
However, he’s also a savvy businessman. He would have been completely unaware of the timing. And it’s obvious that he and Ngannou have beef.
So the answer likely falls somewhere in the middle of what he and Paul claim. Was the timing solely to do with Ngannou fighting for MVP? That seems unlikely. But it would be naive to think that the timing had no correlation at all.