A recent report from the Los Angeles Times stated that WME-IMG would take over negotiations for the much-talked about boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor after Dana White was allegedly pushed to the side. That’s not the case, though, according to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, who told TMZ that the only man running the show is him.
"Let me tell you, when the L.A. Times, we live in a world right now where you can't believe anything that you read. The L.A. Times is putting out that, who else would be running the Mayweather, McGregor deal than me?,” asked Dana. “Who?”
When asked to confirm if new UFC owners WME-IMG were indeed running the show, White was quick to dismiss that notion.
“What does WME know about making big fights? I’ve had a couple of back-to-back days with bad ‘legitimate’ news stories with the Las Vegas review Journal and now the L.A. Times. Trust me, I'm running the Mayweather, McGregor deal. I’m the only one in on it.”
It’s an interesting revelation to say the least, as White has always been instrumental in in making UFC’s biggest fights. Furthermore, to White’s point, while the WME-IMG higher-ups may not know much about “making big fights,” they do know a thing or three about closing multi-million dollar deals thanks to their extensive background in negotiating movie and television roles for some of the biggest Hollywood stars in the business today.
They also know how to lock down multi-billion dollar transactions, as well.
Nevertheless, we should get a clearer picture in the coming months as to who really is in charge of making the fight official. Unless, of course, you’re taking White’s word as gospel?
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