Former two division UFC champion Conor McGregor faces Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246.
McGregor enters the bout after being accused of sexual assault and UFC President Dana White says McGregor was booked despite the accusations because “he hasn’t been charged with anything.”
“I didn’t even know (about the criticism),” White said to Yahoo Sports (via Nolan King of MMA Junkie). “He hasn’t been charged with anything. You can’t accuse somebody and stop them from making a living when they haven’t even been charged of anything. Conor McGregor has made a lot of bad decisions in the past several years. He has paid for it. He walked into court and plead guilty to punching that guy in the face in Ireland. He paid for the slapping of the phone out of the thing. He attacked the bus and paid for that.”
The former two division champion has gone through a host of legal issues in recent years, ranging from destroying a person’s cell phone to attacking an elderly man at a pub.
White says that McGregor wouldn’t have been booked for the event if charges were filed against him.
“He’s obviously done some things,” White said. “He’s been charged and paid and done everything he’s supposed to do. These other things, first of all I don’t even know. Has it said that he’s the guy that’s being accused? Listen, if he was being charged with something right now. It would be a different story. The New York Times have wrote those stories, but those are no other stories out there about Conor McGregor.”
UFC 246 takes place on Saturday, January 18 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
