Dana White Revels Alex Pereira and Conor McGregor’s Next Moves Amid Growing White House Buzz

This effectively puts an end to the Pereira vs. Jon Jones match-up. However, other rumors suggest he could end up facing Ciryl Gane for the interim title, as Tom Aspinall recovers from his double eye poke injury and the subsequent surgeries he needed. Yet, any such fight is yet to be confirmed by the UFC.

Khamzat Chimaev, on the other hand, had called out Pereira for a fight after the Brazilian’s last outing. Pereira’s move to light heavyweight didn’t deter him from making the jump to light heavyweight. However, Dana White has made a great point, since ‘Borz’ is yet to defend his middleweight title even once. 

While there’s no doubt about his dominance in the division, the likes of Sean Strickland, who just defeated Anthony Hernandez, and others deserve a shot to win the title from the champion. And Chimaev’s coach appears to understand that as he has revealed a three-man race. This brings us to McGregor.

There was a seeming three-man race for the spot against the Irishman, also. Michael Chandler, Jorge Masvidal, and Mauricio Ruffy all made headlines as potential opponents for the Irishman. And as per his latest update, a name might have been agreed upon. But Dana White begs to differ.

Dana White tables the Conor McGregor fight discussion, again

“I have been offered an opponent and a date, and I accept. Waiting on my contract,” McGregor shared on X a few days ago in a deleted post.

On Saturday, during UFC Houston, Conor McGregor took to X one more time, sharing details about his potential opponent. 

“It’s a no-name up next for me, possibly, folks,” McGregor said. “And as you know, idgaf. I ACCEPT. Send the contract, lads. CONOR MCGREGORS DEAL”

Later at the presser Dana White shut this one down quickly. “If it was done and he accepted it, I would announce it,” Dana White told a sea of reporters at the UFC Houston post-fight press conference.

Much to the frustration of everyone involved, the lack of answers continues. Everyone expected the obvious choice, Michael Chandler, to grace the South Lawn against McGregor. But White dropped a bombshell when he publicly said they had moved on from the idea.

The issue is not just that they hung Chandler out to dry, but that they have shot down every name that has since been associated with ‘The Notorious.’ The UFC is either playing their cards close to the chest, or we are witnessing a difficult fight negotiation play out in real time.

Add Ronda Rousey’s latest revelations to the mix and a new picture begins to take shape. ‘Rowdy’ said that under the new Paramount structure, Hunter Campbell and the matchmakers are looking to make the most cost-effective fights, and not the biggest and best ones. If it were up to Dana White, he’d whip out the checkbook for big names like Rousey and McGregor.

A while back, McGregor claimed that his UFC contract was void since it was based on the PPV model, which ceased to exist after the Paramount deal. So, could McGregor be angling for a payday that he feels he is worth? Is the UFC holding out on him to negotiate a lower number? Could ‘The Notorious’ end up pricing himself out of the picture?

If the UFC can put on UFC 300 and the Sphere event without its biggest-ever star, surely they can do it for the White House, too. What do you think?