UFC President Dana White takes credit for Conor McGregor’s emergence as an MMA superstar

After a long period of quiet, the anti-trust lawsuit levied against the UFC is once again trundling along. As expected, this ongoing legal battle is revealing some very information about the UFC, its decision makers, and their practices. One of the more interesting stories to emerge over the last few days came from UFC President Dana White, who essentially took responsibility for Conor McGregor‘s superstardom in a deposition.

From his deposition White taking credit for McGregor’s success. pic.twitter.com/qAbABVMwR2

— John S. Nash (@heynottheface) February 21, 2018

“Four years ago, Conor McGregor was available to everybody,” White said in the deposition (h/t MMAMania). “Bellator, ONE FC, UFC, everybody out there. Do you know who went out- he was- he was 7 and 2, Okay? Guy’s record was 7 and 2. There’s a zillion of them, right? I went out and got Conor McGregor. I saw him, I liked his personality, and I turned him into a star, one of the biggest stars on earth right…”

As MMAMania notes, this statement from White is laden with inaccuracies.

Most notably, Conor McGregor was far from your typical dime-a-zillion prospect when he was signed by the UFC. He was already a two-division champion in Cage Warriors, a talent-rich institution of the UK MMA scene. McGregor also wasn’t 7-2 when the UFC signed him, but a far more impressive 12-2. In fact, McGregor hadn’t been 7-2 since April 2011, about two years before he made his debut in the UFC’s Octagon.

And then, of course there’s White’s incredibly debatable claim that he was was the driver for McGregor’s superstardom… The Irishman, who has captivated millions of fans with his gift of gab and brilliant knockout wins, would almost certainly disagree with this claim from White.

Do you think it’s fair for UFC President Dana White to take credit for Conor McGregor’s rocket-fuelled rise to MMA superstardom?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/22/2018.