White: McGregor will never get a stake in UFC

UFC president Dana White says Conor McGregor would have to purchase a stake just like anyone else if he wanted to own shares of the UFC.

Conor McGregor shouldn’t get his hopes up in regards to owning a stake in the UFC anytime soon, according to Dana White.

White, the UFC president, said in an interview with TMZ on Tuesday that it is unlikely he will ever give the Irishman a stake of the company. White said McGregor asked him about the possibility of that via text two weeks ago, but that they have never talked about it in person.

“Conor has never come out, sat down with me, and said, ‘I want a piece of the company, here’s why,’” White said. “We’ve never had that conversation. We did it in text two weeks ago.

“He said, ‘I feel like I should own a piece of the company.’ And I said, ‘Conor, you know that’s never going to happen.’”

McGregor said at a Q&A event in Chicago earlier this month he wants “rightful shares” in the UFC. This was in response to claims that the UFC wanted McGregor to co-headline this year’s International Fight Week pay-per-view. McGregor said he would be willing to be the co-main event, but only if given a stake of the UFC. White said earlier this week he planned to book a heavyweight title fight on top of a McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone bout.

“If you want to own a piece of the company, you’d have to put up the money to buy a piece of the company,” White said. “That’s how it works.”

McGregor abruptly tweeted out early Tuesday morning that he was retiring from MMA. “The Notorious” is still in the USADA drug-testing pool as of the time of this writing, per USADA. McGregor announced his retirement in 2016, but of course never ended up stepping away from the sport and has fought three times since then.

Added to that, McGregor is reportedly under investigation by Irish police for an alleged sexual assault, The New York Times alleged Tuesday. A woman apparently accused him of the crime in December, according to the Times article. However, McGregor has not yet been formally charged with a crime.

McGregor’s spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the “rumor” of his alleged sexual assault and his abrupt retirement announcement were unrelated.

The former two-division champion hasn’t fought since an October loss to lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.