Dana White was forced to scramble to find an artist to sing Ireland’s national anthem on Saturday night.
We’ve known for a few days that Demi Lovato was set to perform the The Star-Spangled Banner ahead of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor but there remained no news about who would belt out Amhrán na bhFiann at the T-Mobile Arena.
White slammed Showtime for the short notice given to find a suitable candidate but, after some frantic phonecalls, he’s found his woman.
“That’s a crazy story,” the UFC president told reporters on Thursday. “Showtime basically popped it on us two days ago and said ‘you guys have to.’
“We were like: ‘What do you mean we have to? This is your show! OK, you want to play it like that? Alright.’
“I was trying to call Ireland at all the wrong times and get all this stuff. We called Bono first. He said he wanted to do it but he’s got a wedding this weekend. You can’t call these guys with three day’s notice.”
White may not have been able to secure the U2 frontman but he hasn’t done too badly at all.
Confirmation came after the weigh-ins on Friday that Imelda May had signed on to sing on the biggest platform of her career to date.
Originally scheduled to perform a set at Rugby School in Warwickshire this Saturday night, May pulled out when she was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.
Here's the news! I’ve been asked to perform the National Anthem ahead of the #mayweathermcgregor fight in VEGAS!🇺🇸Let’s go McGregor!! 🏆👊🏻🇮🇪
— Imelda May (@ImeldaOfficial) August 26, 2017
And who can blame her?
