The UFC White House event, a $100 million payday, and 100 golden visas, Conor McGregor has never been shy of spectacle, but his latest claims have left even his most loyal fans scratching their heads. During a recent BKFC event in Manchester, the former two-division UFC champion announced that his next negotiation wasn’t with Dana White or the UFC. Instead, he said, it was with the U.S. government.
The idea of ‘The Notorious’ cutting a deal directly with President Donald Trump’s administration for UFC’s White House card sounded like a script out of a Hollywood drama. But was it fact or fantasy? Could one of the biggest stars in combat sports really bypass the UFC machine and negotiate straight with Washington? According to Chael Sonnen, the answer is simple and far less glamorous.
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Chael Sonnen exposes Conor McGregor’s claims of negotiations with the United States government
In a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, ‘The Bad Guy’ didn’t mince words as he confessed, “When Conor’s doing an interview, it’s always open to interpretation. It’s never a matter of okay, here’s the information that we got from Conor. If it was, I would just tell you not one word of that is true, and I would get up and walk out of the room. But that’s not a very fun conversation. However, there’s not one word of that that’s true. Conor is not negotiating with the United States government.”
As we mentioned above, McGregor spoke to the media at the BKFC event, where he’d claimed, “I’m not negotiating on behalf of myself for this fight like usual, I’m negotiating with the United States of America on behalf of Ireland for this fight. So it’s a peculiar one. But Trump and the administration have been fully supportive and backing, and I cannot wait to put on a show.”
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But as Chael Sonnen pointed out, “The words that Conor used are not true. Conor is not negotiating with the United States government, nor has he ever, nor will he ever. If you were to ask Conor McGregor the phone number to the United States government, he would not be able to produce it. Just for example, this is not real. But the voice in which Conor did the spoof interview is also not Conor’s natural speaking voice. He’s doing more and more interviews with this new voice.”
However, questions about his voice aside, the former middleweight contender admitted he worries about the way Conor McGregor has framed these grand declarations. For Sonnen, the risk is not about Conor’s marketability, but about credibility as he further stated, “I’ll just tell you, it’s a little bit concerning for me. Only from the perspective of the things that Conor has put out is impossible to match there. There is no 100 golden visas there. There is no significance to Conor fighting at the White House, like that’s not an American.”
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The event, designed to celebrate U.S. Independence Day, is already building up a ton of hype as the promotion’s biggest show to date. But the $100 million and 100 visas demand is where Sonnen feels the statements might be all show and no go. For perspective, that massive check being demanded by the Irishman rivals the rumored payout Canelo Alvarez received for fighting Terence Crawford in Saudi Arabia. But while Saudi money has now become known for rewriting combat sports economics, the idea of U.S. taxpayer dollars bankrolling McGregor’s comeback seems far-fetched.
That’s eactly why, for Chael Sonnen, the risk is not about Conor McGregor’s marketability, but about credibility as he added in the video, “But if his plan is to come out and vocally through the media, let it be known that all the stops are being pulled on America’s Independence Day for somebody who is not an American, it’s not a good look. He’s creating a scenario that can’t happen.”
So while Conor McGregor’s grand vision of golden visas and government negotiations makes for a viral soundbite, the truth appears to be something else entirely. With no official date locked in for his return and his $100 million wish list dismissed by insiders, the ball is firmly in the UFC’s court. Yet, that isn’t the only demand being made by ‘The Notorious’!
Jon Jones receives McGregor’s backing for UFC White House despite Dana White’s doubts
Conor McGregor wants company on the White House card, and not just any name; he wants Jon Jones (one of the most controversial names in UFC history) to share the spotlight with him in Washington, D.C. The idea of the Irishman standing alongside Jones on the biggest UFC card ever is the kind of spectacle McGregor thrives on. But Dana White isn’t sold.
According to the UFC boss, Jones is not on the list of names being considered for the White House event. White has been adamant that the card will feature only the most reliable fighters, a category Jones has rarely fit into. Legal issues, failed dr** tests, and repeated absences have made him a hard sell for the UFC’s most high-profile stage.
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McGregor, though, sees it differently. At BKFC 81 in Manchester, he was asked about Jones potentially joining the White House lineup. His answer was short but telling as he just said ‘yes’ to an interviewer, before walking away to sign autographs. For ‘The Notorious’, the mere thought of sharing the bill with a legend like Jones seems enough to plant the seed.
After all, it’s worth remembering that these two icons nearly shared a stage once before. Back in 2014, they were slated to co-headline UFC 178 before ‘Bones’ unfortunately had to withdraw due to an injury. So, Conor McGregor’s dream of golden visas, government negotiations, and now a co-headline with Jon Jones paints the picture of a spectacle only he could imagine. But as Chael Sonnen warned, there’s a very thin line between showmanship and credibility!