According to reports, Dana White and the UFC really had to scramble to book the main event for UFC 300. The promotion had approached all the big guns, be it Jon Jones, Khamzat Chimaev, Leon Edwards, Stipe Miocic, or even Tom Aspinall to headline the event but was turned down. This of course is except for Aspinall, who agreed to fight Miocic, but the 41-year-old refused.

Finally, Dana White announced last week that light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira would face former champion Jamahal Hill at the top of UFC 300, eliciting mixed reviews from fans who were expecting a super-fight that would knock their socks off to headline the marquee anniversary card. And in a recent podcast interview, White revealed the biggest challenges he faced in making UFC 300 in particular and the biggest issue fighters had in general.

Dana White reveals the ‘madness’ of perfect matchmaking

During an interview on Maxx Crosby’s YouTube channel, Dana White revealed that given all his other commitments and the packed schedule of the UFC, organizing and matchmaking for successful events was much more challenging than it seems from the outside. “It’s madness,” the Las Vegas resident declared.

This compelled the interviewer to ask how much fighters’ egos came into play when the promotion was planning a main event and if the stars quibbled over being the co-main event and not the main event for an event.

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White clarified that while ego was not a factor for most fighters, he felt that injuries and ‘paranoia’ over things like potentially losing their spot in the rankings were the main problems he and the promotion faced when making fights, and gave the example of Khamzat Chimaev to illustrate his point.

“No there’s not any of that. It’s not any of that. What what you’re dealing with is not egos, you’re dealing with injuries … I’ll give you an example. Like Khamzat Chimaev, when he was unranked and these guys that have to fight him that are ranked, you get a lot of these guys that are ranked that don’t want to take fights with you know. With professional fighters there’s this unbelievable paranoia,” White added.

And one fighter, who is giving real trouble to the Power Slap founder at the moment, is Conor McGregor, who is still near and dear to the UFC CEO’s heart despite their recent friction.

White rates McGregor over any other star

Dana White, despite having expressed unhappiness with Conor McGregor over disagreements over ‘Notorious’s comeback bout, admitted in a recent interview that the former two-division champion did the most of any star to popularize the sport and helped it reach mainstream popularity.

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“When you think about my business, it’s very star driven. When we started out we had Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Ronda Rousey… Then comes Conor McGregor… [and] it was such a home run and he took us to a whole another level throughout Europe and other parts of the world,” he said.

White felt that the reason behind this was Mac’s magnetic personality which drew fans in because of his natural charisma, sense of humor, and showmanship. The UFC CEO praised McGregor’s trash talk and persona, comparing it to Muhammad Ali, adding that he, like the former heavyweight champion and civil rights icon, “transcends the sport”.

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