Don’t say we didn’t warn you about the decision Dana White made with the UFC 229 press conference.
Dana White created an environment in which Conor McGregor didn’t have an audience for his first UFC media obligation in nearly two years. ‘The Notorious’ was understandably pissed off about the situation.
The first question wasn’t even finished when McGregor started his rant.
“If I was an owner and I was part of the promotion, I would have had fucking fans in this arena. Where’s the fucking fans at? That’s who we fight for, that’s who pays the bills, that’s who deserves this show. Bring me all over the fucking world and we’re just sitting here in a fucking thing. I’m on probation up to me eyeballs in ongoing and incoming civil cases and we come here to do this bullshit?”
“Bring the fans here. Here we are. Yous wanted a war. Here we fucking are! Do you know what I’m saying? Let’s get a fucking war going. Fucking, all this other stupid shit. But hey, I didn’t get what I asked, so here we are.”
It just won't be the same #UFC229 https://t.co/o7Nwnecjpp
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 14, 2018
The right call?
With no audience, McGregor still carried the press conference. People may not have liked what he said, but 500,000 people tuned in to watch it live on the UFC’s YouTube channel. The audience grew the longer the presser went on. That being said, it was unusual to hear his shit talk get a muted response with only media members present.
At the post-press conference, Dana White defended the decision to close it off to the public. He knew he made the right call about halfway through the event.
“I questioned it a couple times going in because I love having the fans be a part of everything that we do, but I absolutely made the right decision on this one. I felt it halfway through the press conference and I’m definitely feeling it now.”
“There would have been a lot more energy. There would have been a lot of Khabib supporters and Conor supporters. I don’t know, I just don’t think it would have been a positive thing. I think it was much better this way.”
Safety first.
