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In a recently interview on the IMPAULSIVE podcast, UFC CEO Dana White said, if he had his choice, Conor McGregor would headline next summer’s UFC fight card at the White House. McGregor seems open to the possibility even naming the opponent he’d like to face at the historic event.
Former UFC title challenger and industry insider Chael Sonnen questioned why McGregor would headlined the event and doubts that the Irishman will.
“The story that Conor McGregor is being talked to, to headline the UFC White House card, I don’t buy it,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I can’t buy it. Why would we be turning to Conor McGregor? The answer is also out there. Because he’s the sport’s biggest star. If you’ve got the open check book, and you’ve got the magic wand, without saying names do you say I’m going to put as my main event the sports’ biggest star? Is that your answer? Does it matter who he’s fighting? What if it’s a championship match?
“You have an open check book, and you have a magic wand, and you don’t use any names but you’re going to put the championship on. Would you say heavyweight? Would you say women’s 135? Would you say, where ever Khamzat Chimaev is at? How is it that you would answer that question? And what if you’re really going to go for a big fight. What if you’ve really followed this for a long time and you’re going to do what we used to call a super-fight, but now we call it title versus title. You’re going to take a champion of a weight class and you’re going to put them with another champion of a weight class. Your A side and your B side are both going to be champions. You’re not going to use names, but that’s at the ingredients you need to bring the biggest card ever.”
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White has stated in several interviews that the White House event will be the biggest fight card the promotion has ever done. To carry that distinction, the fight card would have to feature a world title bout.
“We’re openly saying, if we’re going to put Conor on there that there’s no title,” Sonnen said. “The biggest draw should be the main event. Your biggest star, regardless of belt, should be the main event. But in this case, if our biggest draw and out biggest star is not a champion, or a contender in any weight class, we’re going to acknowledge up front that out biggest show will not contain a title which makes it a little difficult down the road to go, ‘This show is bigger than big. … I just think it puts you in a very unusual spot.”
Sonnen doesn’t believe the fight card is being assembled this far out from the event, and a lot can happen over the next 10 months.
“I don’t think Conor McGregor is a shoo-in to be the main event on the White House lawn. There, I’ve said it.”
