The Crumlin native has not fought on Irish soil in 10 years.
Dana White has opened up about the obstacles that have gotten in the way of a much-anticipated Conor McGregor fight at Croke Park over the years.
The UFC boss fielding questions about a McGregor homecoming bout at Croker has become something of a running joke in the last decade.
Even as far back as UFC 205 in 2016, the CEO and president of the organisation was quoted as saying; “We talk about Croke Park, we’ve been talking about that forever” – referencing calls for a super fight at the home of the GAA.
White and other figureheads have consistently belied, ‘we will do Croke Park’, but Irish fight fans are still left waiting.
Now, 10 years on from The Notorious’ fight against Diego Brandao at the 3Arena in 2014, White has again voiced his intentions to bring the UFC to Drumcondra.
In an interview with Off The Ball ahead of Cork boxer Callum White’s Super Welterweight title defence against Przemyslaw Runowski at Dublin’s 3Arena next month, the 55-year-old opened up about the issues getting in the way of the proposed event.
“I’ve been trying to do Croke Park for a long time with Conor McGregor and we couldn’t get it done because they wouldn’t keep the public transportation open.
“They had a curfew on us. There were lots of things that made it tough.”
The UFC staged a big show in Manchester last month, on which three Irish fighters – Shauna Bannon, Kiefer Crosbie and Caolan Loughran – fought, with the event taking place at the traditional American PPV time, meaning the main card didn’t begin until 3am local time.
A similar situation would likely happen if they were to stage an event involving McGregor at Croke Park.
McGregor isn’t the only Irish fighter linked with a headline bout at Croke Park.
Katie Taylor’s rematch with Amanda Serrano was initially in contention for a Dublin date, but the Bray legend will instead travel to Texas later this year to fight on the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul undercard.
