Whether he wins, loses or draws at UFC 189, Conor McGregor is confident that Croke will host a UFC event.
McGregor is due to take on Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 189 in July. Should the Notorious be victorious, the Irish fans will be crying out for his first title defence to be in Croke Park.
However, McGregor admitted he isn’t confident of this happening. The Irish UFC superstar explained in a recent interview with MMA Fighting that a spot on the first ever New York-based UFC event is a far more likely follow up to to the Aldo bout.
“If I’m really honest, there’ll be three, maybe four places I’ll only compete: Vegas, Ireland, New York and Boston. Even Boston, you wouldn’t know.”
Professional MMA is currently outlawed in the Big Apple, but with the Speaker of the New York Assembly Sheldon Silver coming under controversy of late, the bill to legalise might pass soon.
Zuffa have already booked a date for a UFC event in Madison Square Garden in December, and McGregor feels that he is a shoe-in to appear on that historic card.
“They’ll want me in New York. They’re trying to get that December date, so who knows, I mean, who else could they put on that card?”
McGregor claimed that the timing wouldn’t be right for him to appear at a Croke Park event this year.
“Me, personally, of course I want that stadium show in Dublin. Are they going to put that stadium show on at the end of the year in winter time? Do you know what I mean? It’s hard for me to say what way it will go. We have discussed some things but we’ll let it happen naturally.”
However, he may have made every MMA fan the island wet themselves a little in excitement by promising that a Croke Park event will happen somewhere down the line.
“Can I promise that the first event will be in a stadium? I can’t, because I’m not 100% sure, but I can promise that it will happen. that is without doubt a guarantee.”
Check out the full 20-minute interview in the video embedded below. McGregor discusses the possibility of a Croke Park event from the 14:31 mark.
