Dana White on signing Conor McGregor: "He's going to be a massive superstar"

White told The Diary Of A CEO he called Lorenzo Fertitta straight after the dinner, and that he has had only "a handful" of meetings like it in 25 years.

Dana White says he predicted Conor McGregor would be a star at a dinner when the UFC signed him.

Asked by Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO what fighters such as McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Ronda Rousey have in common, White went back to when McGregor signed. "Conor McGregor. I went to dinner with him when we signed him. I left that dinner, I called Lorenzo Fertitta and I said, dude, I don't know if this guy can fight or not, but if he can even throw a punch, he's going to be a massive superstar. He's incredible," White said.

He said the first thing that matters is "can you fight? How good are you?" The second is a "mentality of manifesting and just sitting there and you're telling me what you're going to do and how it's going to happen and how it's all going to play out. And I've only had a handful of these meetings in 25 years, a handful."

White also defended Rousey, who he said changed his mind about having women in the UFC. "I didn't want women in the UFC," he said. "Ronda Rousey grabbed me at an event and said, hey, I'm Ronda Rousey. Can I get 15 minutes with you?" Minutes into that meeting, he said, he thought: "I think I'm going to do this." "So many people now want to hate on her. She is a f***ing unicorn."

In the same interview White called Eddie Hearn "weak" and said his father built Matchroom, and spoke about his late mother's unauthorised book.

READ NEXTDana White: "Eddie Hearn is weak. Eddie Hearn, his dad built that business"Read the next story →

Every UK fight result and what's next, every Friday. Get the free UK fight briefing

Add Combat Sports UK as a preferred source on Google