Dana White on whether UFC will punish Conor McGregor: we’ll see what happens

Earlier this month, Conor McGregor flew to Brooklyn, New York, and ran amok on a terrible rampage. This rampage reached a chaotic crescendo when McGregor threw a dolly through the window of a shuttle bus that was carrying his arch rival Khabib Nurmagomedov and a number of other UFC 223 fighters. McGregor’s attack caused injuries to both Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa, who were ultimately forced out of their fights as a result.

In the wake of this crazed attack, Conor McGregor was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief. He will be summoned back to New York this June 14 for his first court date. McGregor is also likely to experience some legal kickback from Borg, Chiesa, and anybody else who experienced damages as the result of his rampage.

While it’s obvious that McGregor is in for a difficult stretch of legal battles, however, it’s not clear how the UFC itself will respond to his actions.

Speaking to TMZ this week, UFC President Dana White discussed McGregor’s complicated legal situation. When asked how the UFC will discipline the Irish star, he was noncommittal, saying only that he will wait and see how McGregor’s court proceedings shake out.

“We’ll see. We’ll see what happens,” White said (via Express Sport). “He’s got to be punished by the law first.

“Let’s see what happens in New York.”

“He’s got to go through that first.”

Given comments of this type, many members of the UFC community have worried McGregor will go unpunished by White and the UFC. Even UFC color commentator Joe Rogan seems to be bothered by this possibility. 

“What if that dolly hit the part where Rose [Namajunas]was sitting and cut Rose’s face up?” Rogan said on a recent episode of the JRE MMA Show. “Michael Chiesa, I’m sad that he got cut but Chiesa is a tough bastard, he will be fine. He is probably pissed off, will sue Conor and make a shit load of money suing him. But what if it hit Rose? The fucking world would hate him. What if Rose was blinded in one eye because of that? Ray Borg got cuts in his eyes, so it’s entirely possible. He got glass shards in, he’s got a scratched cornea. Chiesa filed a complaint, which will lead to a lawsuit, I would imagine. If I was Conor, I would settle every fucking thing outside of a courtroom because if he loses and he gets a felony, he’s fucked. He probably won’t even be able to come into the country. Switch it around; imagine if Ray Borg threw that dolly and Conor was inside. He’d be gone, his career would be over. That’s one of the more fucked up things about this is that you know Conor is getting special treatment. He is, and that’s not good for anybody.”

What do you think the future holds for Conor McGregor?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/30/2018.