UFC: Dana White responds to Conor McGregor’s ‘lockdown’ video – ‘since when do Americans hide in their houses?

UFC president White says he ‘loves’ that his native Nevada did a ‘lockdown’ similar to what McGregor proposed

White feels Americans should not hide from the coronavirus forever as ‘we are all going to die of something’

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UFC president Dana White (left) talks to Conor McGregor before the unofficial weigh-ins for UFC 246 in January. Photo: USA Today

Published: 4:52pm, 25 Mar 2020Updated: 4:52pm, 25 Mar 2020

UFC president Dana White has responded to Conor McGregor’s impassioned address on the Republic of Ireland’s handling of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic on Wednesday.

McGregor, who holds several of the promotion’s pay-per-view records, uploaded a video telling the Irish people to go on “full lockdown” as early as possible and follow measures that “have worked in Hong Kong and China”.

White, who announced last week that three upcoming UFC cards would be postponed, said he did not watch McGregor’s video but agreed with the idea of a short-term “lockdown”.

“I love that we did the lockdown, too,” said White to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole during self-quarantine in his Las Vegas home.

“I kept trying to keep the fights going for as long as I could ... [it was a] very tough decision to make but the governor [Nevada] made the right decision. Some of the people are going on lockdown tomorrow or today, we’ve already been in this thing for a week.”