“When it comes to mental warfare, they are on equal footing”

UFC CEO Dana White believes Conor McGregor's mental warfare and trash talk rank alongside Muhammad Ali's among the best fighters of all time.

McGregor is known for his trash talking gestures and for getting inside his opponents' heads, as he did long before the Jose Aldo fight. On the Flagrant podcast with Andrew Schulz before the Dublin press conference was cancelled, White praised Conor McGregor highly for his ability to play mind games.

“I never like to compare people to Muhammad Ali, because for me he is the damn [man]”, said White (via MiddleEasy). “And what has he done as a human being in the fight, what has this guy accomplished, right? But I don’t give a shit what anybody says. Ali, Conor, [same] level when it comes to mental warfare, truly the two best of all time when it comes to mental warfare.

When you look back at Ali and look at what he did to George Foreman in Africa, you see what he did to Joe Frazier…Joe Frazier hated Muhammad Ali so damn much. He would show up out in his camp and do all this shit. He would predict rounds. He would come up with incredible poems and sayings and things he would do leading up to the fight,” White added.

“Then look at Conor McGregor,” White continued. “He picked rounds. I mean, the mental battle that guy had against so many of his opponents. And he made those guys play his game, get in their heads, embarrass the hell out of them, outbox them in every way. When he fought Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden, he was literally on Ali's level as far as the mental battle went.”

McGregor is one of the biggest trash talkers in MMA history and has undoubtedly managed to get into his opponents' heads in the past.

“Great optimism” Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler will take place at UFC 303

After the UFC postponed the press conference between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler in Dublin on Monday, many fans feared that the fight would be canceled.

The UFC has removed all of McGregor's free fights from YouTube and the pay-per-view content was no longer available for purchase. But on Wednesday, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani revealed that they are optimistic that the fight will take place at UFC 303.

“The mood couldn't be more different than it was on Sunday and Monday,” Helwani said on the MMA Hour. “The positive mood couldn't be more; it's so much higher now; there's a lot of optimism that all the systems are working.”

McGregor has not fought since July 2021, when he broke his leg in the trilogy match against Dustin Poirier.