UFC News – Conor McGregor defended by Dana White
UFC president Dana White has claimed Conor McGregor is one of the most ‘underrated’ fighters in the promotion.
“I wouldn’t say that this is a crossroads fight,” White said of McGregor in an interview with ESPN. “This is a very important fight for both fighters. For Khabib, who’s undefeated and is looked at as one of the best in the world, beating Conor is massive for him.
“And obviously for Conor, coming back from a two-year layoff; in my opinion, and it’s crazy to say this because of how popular he is around the world, but he’s one of the most underrated fighters in the UFC.
“Everybody thinks because he speaks so well and gets so crazy and everything, it makes him sort of less of a fighter.
“It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. When you talk about pound-for-pound best in the world, this is a guy who is actually living proof of pound-for-pound.
“He jumps from weight class to weight class and fights people in different weight classes. He went out and boxed Floyd Mayweather.
“And he’s literally willing to fight anybody in the world who thinks they’re better than him. It’s what makes him so popular.
“This isn’t a crossroads fight, this is another fight to cement his legacy as one of the best to ever do it.”
UFC News – Dustin Poirier talks Nate Diaz fight
Dustin Poirier is confident his UFC 230 bout with Nate Diaz will go ahead as planned.
“I mean, as far as I know, I think I’m the one fighting the guy,” Poirier told Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour.
“If something changed, I think they would have let me know. I haven’t heard anything.”
“Nate says a lot of stuff, but when he signs a fight contract, I don’t really know of any times that he’s not shown up to fight or pulled out of a fight.
“He says a lot of stuff and does a lot of stuff in the media between fights, but when he signs a contract, the guy shows up and puts it all on the line every time.”
UFC News – Dana White talks Georges St-Pierre’s return
White has claimed UFC 231 in Toronto ‘makes sense’ for Georges St-Pierre’s return to the Octagon.
St-Pierre recently refused to rule out the possibility of fighting at UFC 230, which takes place at Madison Square Garden on November 3.
White would prefer to see the Canadian fight a month later on the UFC 231 card, saying: “Toronto makes sense. Toronto wouldn’t be bad.”
St-Pierre’s last venture into the cage took place at UFC 217, where he ended Michael Bisping’s reign at the summit of the middleweight division to become the promotion’s fourth two-weight world champion.
He vacated the belt a little over a month after submitting ‘The Count’ due to an ongoing bout of ulcerative colitis.