Justin Gaethje blasts Conor McGregor, defends Dana White
Did Conor McGregor open Pandora's Box by trying to defend his early attempts to line-up his 2020 season by outing a private message exchange with UFC president Dana White?
It appears McGregor has upset a number of people, including White, when he posted a private message exchange with the UFC head honcho. McGregor's tweet included parts of the exchange that included him saying he wouldn't be a fill-in fighter for the planned Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson bout, which had been slated for UFC 249 earlier this year.
McGregor's post went on to show he had requested a headlining bout with Diego Sanchez. It was a fight that White was critical of, saying that he could lose his promoter's license if he made such a fight.
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Dana White calls Conor McGregor's post 'one of the dirtiest things you can do'
The actions of his biggest – albeit retired – superstar set White off at the UFC 253 post-fight press conference on Saturday. White responded to a question about McGregor's tweet, saying, “This is some man-code stuff. It’s just something you don’t do. It’s one of the dirtiest things you can do.”
McGregor doubled down on his commitment to eventually facing Diego Sanchez at some point, even after Sanchez lost to Jake Matthews at UFC 253 on Saturday.
He also seemed like he might be taking another shot at the UFC, by including a mention addressing "some promoters," although that wasn't specifically stated.
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Justin Gaethje defends Dana White, shoots down Conor McGregor's claims
Late Sunday, interim UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and his manager Ali Abdelaziz stood behind White, making pointed comments at McGregor, asserting that he turned down potential fights.
Gaethje is currently slated to unify his interim lightweight title with champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 on Oct. 24 on Fight Island.
Gaethje had wanted to either fight McGregor or wait for a shot at the winner of Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson at UFC 249. McGregor instead fought Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in January. Gaethje waited.
Nurmagomedov fell out of the fight at UFC 249. McGregor did not want to be a back-up plan for that bout, so White enlisted Gaethje to battle Ferguson for the interim title. Gaethje won at UFC 249 in May and now faces Nurmagomedov for the belt.
Meanwhile, McGregor announced his retirement in June, but then tweeted in the past few days that his next bout would be a boxing match opposite Manny Pacquiao.
In defending White, Gaethje and Abdelaziz wrote off McGregor as any sort of potential contender.
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