Conor McGregor is testing the boundaries of the old adage of 'any publicity is good publicity' as he awaits his court hearing following charges against him of assault and criminal mischief.
UFC boss Dana White has already come out and condemned the Dubliner's actions in the aftermath of an attack on a bus containing UFC fighters and today sat down with ESPN, telling them he would not try to get McGregor out of his troubles with the law:
Normally yes, I would dive right in and do everything in my power to help one of my guys but not in this situation. He came into the Barclays centre and attacked our fighters and attacked my staff with a bunch of guys and no you don't get my help on this one.
This is out of character for Conor McGregor and any of my fighters. Crazy things happen, you're dealing with human beings personal lives and all these other things. In the history of the UFC this is definitely the worst ever.
White was then pressed on whether he thought McGregor would ever fight in the UFC again, but remained reticent on saying either way:
I don't know. I honestly don't know the answer to that question... yeah I don't know.
White confirmed that the 'Notorious' was definitely going to step into the octagon for the UFC before the bus incident occured:
Absolutely. He was absolutely fighting in the UFC. We were actually working on a deal and a new plan for him all this week. Then he shows up and this happens.
.@danawhite says he was working on a new deal with Conor McGregor before his incident. pic.twitter.com/4va4kSN33o
— Get Up (@Get_Up) April 6, 2018
White revealed that he had a 'text session' with McGregor yesterday that "was not very good":
Most of the things I would rather not say and probably can't say on TV.
Asked if McGregor was apologetic following the attack White said "no":
He was apologetic toward Rose, because Rose Namajunas was very upset. Obviously Michael Chiesa and he didn't know Ray Borg (was injured) at the time. He was apologetic about the people he wasn't trying to hurt, but he felt like the Khabib thing had to be done.
It is thought the attack was provoked by an altercation between Khabib Nurmagomedov and McgGregor's SBG team mate Artem Lobov. Lobov was set to fight at UFC223 but has been removed from the card following the incident.
