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Dana White Admits He’s More Lenient With Conor McGregor Than With Other Fighters

Conor McGregor is undoubtedly the biggest star ever to step inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Octagon, eclipsing the likes of George St-Pierre, Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey in terms of raw pulling power.

McGregor’s rise to fame is nothing short of remarkable, going from collecting state welfare checks from the Irish government in 2013 to making more than $100 million from his fight against boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.

The Irishman makes his long-awaited return to the UFC next month at UFC 229 in a bid to regain his lightweight belt from the current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

While fans naturally gravitate towards “The Notorious” due to his confidence and wittiness when it come to the mental warfare side of the game, there are aspects to his approach which well and truly step over the line. Back in April, a group of men including McGregor stormed the basement of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in the lead up to UFC 223 to confront Nurmagomedov who was on the fighters’ bus heading to the media conference.

McGregor threw a metal loading dolly at the bus window, shattering it and injuring UFC fighters Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg forcing them off the card as well as inflicting psychological damage to women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas as a result of the attack.

Despite his indiscretions, McGregor still remains the number one box office draw.

While the Irishman has faced court for his attack back in April; he was never formally punished by the UFC. Now he’s preparing for arguably the biggest fight of his MMA career, UFC President Dana White has admitted McGregor gets away with more than other fighters do just because of who he is and the amount of money he can generate them.

“Conor works very well with us. We’ve worked very well with him. There are obviously certain things you have to deal with, with a Conor McGregor,” White told ESPN’s “Get Up” (via MMA Weekly). “He’s worth it.”

While White admitted the UFC is lenient its their most prized asset, he did not condone his actions in in April.

“For example, the New York thing. The fact that he thought he could come here and have this beef with Khabib in the middle of New York City and the way that it was done, that’s obviously the craziest thing,” White said.

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com

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