Dana White: McGregor would ‘literally be perfect’ if he showed up to press conferences on time

Bloodyelbow.com

Conor McGregor always seems to get stuck in traffic on his way to media conferences, which is why the former featherweight and lightweight champion is usually at least 20-30 minutes late.

This was a big problem at the UFC 229 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas, where Khabib Nurmagomedov, who showed up on time, got bored of waiting for his opponent and decided to get up and leave the conference early. McGregor arrived around 30-45 minutes late and was left to field questions from reporters on his own, with no Khabib in sight.

It made for an awkward affair, and Dana White admitted that McGregor’s lateness sometimes gets on his nerves.

“Is Conor hard to deal with here and there? Yeah but he’s worth it,” White said on a recent episode of the Bartsool Sports podcast, per SportsJOE.ie. “If people ask me what’s the biggest problem you have with Conor? It’s not showing up on time.”

Aside from that, White couldn’t ask for a better fighter to work with and promote.

“Other than that, Conor’s incredible. Conor’s a fun guy to be around, he’s hilarious, he’s a great fighter, he’s fun to watch,” White continued. “If the guy showed up on time, he’d literally be perfect. He’d be perfect.

“We’re a global sport so when we do these press conferences, we’re on television networks all over the world that are taking this press conference. So they’re live and they’re ready to go and if Conor doesn’t show up for another 30 minutes, it’s a problem.

“We’ve got to fill the time and not only fill the time but keep people interested and get them willing to stick around which is tough to do these days.”

McGregor last fought in October against Nurmagomedov, when he lost via fourth-round submission in the blockbuster UFC 229 main event. The Irishman is expected to meet with the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) next year over his involvement in the chaotic post-fight brawl at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. McGregor could face a fine and possible suspension.