UFC boss Dana White has released video of Conor McGregor's sparring session with Paulie Malignaggi
The bad blood between the UFC world and American TV network Showtime that developed in the lead-up to Conor McGregor's fight against Floyd Mayweather is still around four months after the history-making bout.
McGregor and UFC president Dana White don't have much time for Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza, which the Irishman made abundantly clear when he called Espinoza a "f***ing weasel" on stage during his press tour before the boxing match, which Mayweather won.
White and Espinoza also traded barbs over how Showtime promoted the event, and the UFC boss has taken aim again at figures released by the broadcaster over just how big the fight was.
In a press release last month, Showtime revealed the bout generated 4.3 million pay-per-view buys in North America, making it the second most in combat sports history behind Mayweather's fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2015, which did 4.6 million pay-per-view buys.
August's fight also generated $US6 million in total revenue but White has cast doubt over the accuracy of the figures, saying the worldwide pay-per-view number (not just limited to North America) was upwards of 6.7 million and would have been greater had pay-per-view servers not crashed on fight day.
"The thing did over 6.7 million buys and if the servers didn't drop we would have got closer to seven million. It was the biggest event ever and it was the biggest boxing event ever without a boxer — there was only one boxer involved in the fight.
"I still question (the official pay-per-view numbers). The way that they handled that press release and what they did — I didn't trust them before and now I just despise those f***ing guys. The Showtime guys — I'll never work with them again ever."
Espinoza fired back at White on Twitter on Saturday, saying Showtime was just "telling the truth".
Sounds like he's upset because we committed the cardinal sin of telling the truth (when we released the accurate total for N. American PPV buys on MayMac).
Strange that telling the truth, in a press release vetted by all parties in advance, is something to be "despised" for. https://t.co/rFxKXz0Bjz
McGregor might not be No. 1 in the UFC world for much longer if he continues to stay away from the Octagon. His last MMA fight was at UFC 205 in November 2016, where he claimed the lightweight strap by defeating Eddie Alvarez, but his prolonged absence from the promotion may see him give up his title.
Tony Ferguson is the interim lightweight champion after submitting Kevin Lee at UFC 216 in October and White said he and Khabib Nurmagomedov — another star in the 155-pound division — have both shown they deserve a shot at the title.
White also said McGregor was planning to make his UFC comeback in August or later, but suggested if that was the case he won't do so as the lightweight champ because letting a belt sit idle for that long "can't happen".
Conor McGregor may need to surrender his UFC lightweight title. Photo / Getty Images.
"Conor and I haven't really figured out when he's coming back and what's going on so Conor has some big decisions to make here really quick," White told Yahoo Sports.
"I don't think Conor wants to fight until August but if he waits until August or September that's around two years since the belt has been defended and that can't happen.
"This is a game of time ... we can't let this thing go on forever and not give other guys the opportunity. Tony Ferguson has been around for a long time and has earned his dues, Khabib has earned his dues and the list goes on and on."
White praised McGregor for what he's achieved in the sport and said he won't push him into a comeback, but said if he waits too long then Ferguson and Nurmagomedov could well find themselves squaring off for the coveted piece of UFC gold.
"Conor has done very well, he's earned a lot of money and if he decides he doesn't want to fight again for however long, that's up to him," White said. "But the belt has to move on so we've got to figure some stuff out here in the next couple of months.
"As long as Conor is willing to fight by March we could do Khabib vs Tony and then the winner fights Conor for the title. Or if Conor doesn't want to fight and wants to sit out until next fall then we would have to make Khabib vs Tony for the title, not the interim title."
