Mayweather vs. McGregor, Aug. 26

He is long removed from those days. He can't control McGregor and surprisingly he hasn't been able to control a marginal champion with no proven PPV-drawing power like Michael Bisping, who will have managed a two-year reign in a deep division without a single defense against a top five contender. Dana's power is limited to having twitter battles with guys he SHOULD be trying to promote and elevate like Demetrious Johnson and Ty Woodley.

 

If you think Dana White is calling the shots for McGregor, you haven't been paying attention. Ever since he knocked out Aldo, McGregor has been calling his own shots. Instead of defending the featherweight belt even once, he wanted to fight Dos Anjos for the lightweight title even though he had never fought at lightweight in the UFC. White complied. After getting tapped out by Diaz, McGregor wanted a rematch, even though Diaz was a last-minute replacement for Dos Anjos anyway. White complied. And do you think Diaz would have gotten that same rematch if McGregor had won the first fight? Hell no. After he beat Diaz, McGregor wanted to go back after the lightweight title and Eddie Alvarez. White complied. After beating Alvarez, he wanted to box Mayweather, even though there is a list of legit contenders at lightweight that would make great fights for him. White complied.

And White does this because he knows, without McGregor, the UFC has ZERO crossover stars. Rousey ain't coming back and the only other possibility, Jon Jones, just put himself on the shelf for at least a couple of years. So White's job, at least as McGregor is concerned, is to keep the golden goose happy and hope he decides to come back to the octagon some time soon.

 

I don't see Dana White in his current position for much longer (in combat sports terms that's...a couple years). He's overseen the downtick of the product and can't seem to promote a PPV that doesn't have McGregor or Jones on it. UFC 215 is probably not going to draw flies. He is having bitchfests with seemingly half the roster and like TyWebb said, they have no crossover stars. They are so desperate for someone to provide a soundbyte that will get picked up on ESPN or FS1 that they thwarted Kevin Lee into a interim title match.

More and more it seems like his power had been diminished since the Fertitta Brothers left the fold.