Updated at 11.59am
CONOR McGREGOR WILL get his shot at UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, but it won’t happen at Croke Park.
UFC President Dana White has said the pair will clash in a high-profile title bout in Las Vegas this May. No date was specified, but Saturday the 23rd looks likely.
McGregor took his UFC record to 5-0 in the early hours of this morning when he dismantled a game Dennis Siver en route to a TKO stoppage in the second round.
Afterwards, the 26-year-old Dubliner approached Aldo who was sitting cage-side. They were kept apart, but the incident only served to heighten the anticipation ahead of a fight that will be the biggest in the four-year history of the UFC featherweight division.
Croke Park was rumoured to be a potential venue for the contest, but Dana White confirmed in this morning’s post-event press conference in Boston that there are currently several factors that prevent GAA headquarters from being a viable option.
“We’re looking at May in Vegas,” White said. “There’s a lot of obstacles for Croke Park. They have a curfew at night where you can’t get permits to stay out that late and do an event there.
“You lose about 25-to-30 percent on pay-per-view, being in another country. There’s the amount of money on production for Croke Park, and I guarantee you it’s going to rain. I’m not saying we’re never going to do it, but Vegas for this one.”
White also explained that in spite of the enormous potential attendance Croke Park could cater for, gate receipts for an event in Las Vegas would still be significantly larger.
“You’d actually do a bigger gate in Vegas, probably two million dollars more. When you’re in a stadium that big, the production costs… We’ve got to put up big screens, we’ve definitely got to build something over the octagon because it will rain… There are a lot of things you have to do in an arena like that that you wouldn’t do in Vegas.”
McGregor, who clinched a Performance of the Night bonus for his display, said: “Of course, the stadium is a dream of mine, a vision of mine. But Vegas, I’m happy with Vegas. We’re going to go to Las Vegas and one more head will be collected.
“They all think it’s fun and games, but I’m not playing here. Now we have a location, now Jose is next in line, he will be the next one to learn that it’s not all talk and it’s no joke. I’m not messing around here.”
Originally published at 8.20am
