BOSTON — Conor McGregor will get his chance to fight for the UFC featherweight championship, but not on his home soil.
UFC president Dana White said Sunday night after McGregor dispatched Dennis Siver by second-round TKO in the main event of UFC Fight Night 59 at TD Garden that the Irish fighter’s title bout against defending champion Jose Aldo will be held this May in Las Vegas, not Dublin’s Croke Park — McGregor’s preferred venue.
White said he was open to the idea of hosting the fight at the famed stadium, which can seat upward of 80,000, but that the logistical issues simply were too great.
“There’s a lot of obstacles for Croke Park,” White said. “The time, they have a curfew at night where you can’t get permits to stay out that late and do an event there. You lose about 25 to 30 percent on pay-per-view being in another country. The amount of money for production, (and) I guarantee you it’s going to rain. I’m not a meteorologist, but I’ll bet you it’s going to rain.
“I’m not saying we’re never going to do it, but Vegas for this one.”
McGregor still is holding out hope that he one day will get the chance to fight at Croke Park, especially as his UFC star continues to rise. But for now, Vegas is fine with him.
“It’s absolutely perfect,” he said. “Of course, the stadium is a dream of mine — a vision of mine. And I think maybe the visions are getting there. I said (I would knock out Siver in) two minutes, it was two rounds — I’m on to something. But Vegas, I’m happy with Vegas.”
McGregor-Aldo is expected to be one of the most highly anticipated UFC bouts in years (McGregor predicts it will surpass Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier in terms of pay-per-view buys) and the lead-up to it began immediately after Sunday’s event concluded.
After defeating Siver, McGregor hopped out of the octagon to confront Aldo, who watched the fight from ringside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCviO4rdtMc
“They thought I was going to see my girlfriend and hug my girlfriend,” McGregor said. “They must have thought I was a romantic. But I was going to kill that little Brazilian.”
“They” included White.
“I was actually in the back watching it, and I was like, ‘Why are they not letting him see his family?’” White said. “I thought he was going to see his family. Then I realized he was going after Aldo.
“It is what it is. It happened. It’s Conor, it’s his personality, it’s the way he is. As long as they don’t touch each other.”
