I'm sure Conor would do it if the situation presented itself. Dana could then move into the shadows as part owner or just move on to something else. He was never destined to do this for the rest of his life and the new UFC owners, who are steeped in the entertainment industry, may look at Conor's brand as being the ideal face and voice to represent the UFC going forward.
As for what are Conor's qualifications ? He brings in far more money to the UFC than Dana does, which is pretty scary considering where he was as a fighter just two years ago. Dana's legacy is the past and he deserves a lot of credit for that, but he's become a bit of a poster child for the old Fertita/White owned UFC at a time when they have just been sold.
I agree re Dana leaving eventually, I saw an interview with Jimmy Kimmel (I think it was him) where he's pretty content with life after making his shit load of money during the sale.
I think you can look at it two ways though, the fighter is always going to bring in more money than the promoter, but essentially that promoter helped make people like Conor McGregor, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones etc, he helped make the UFC what it is and whilst I agree it's past achievements it's bigger now than it ever has been. Dana deserves a load of credit for it (as do the fighters such as Conor.)
It's a weird suggestion, I agree. Dana White is a savvy business-man. McGregor has huge charisma but has shown nothing to suggest he could run a billion dollar business. Not sure he would want to either. His ego wouldn't let himself take the sort of role that White does in the UFC.
yeah that's what I don't get, it's a business. The fighter suddenly having a directors role out of nowhere is like a WWE storyline if anything!
They probably just mean his on screen hype man shite, press conferences and the like, not actually running the business.
He is a good hype man for himself, but for other fights I'm not sure. At the "go Big" press conference before Aldo he pretty much shit on every fighter on the stage. He's great at talking himself up for promotion but others I'm not so sure. Nor do I think it would interest him. He plays off fighters well. It would be a bit odd to have 2 fighters fighting and Conor in the middle in the Dana role acting as a mediator. To me his "persona" really doesn't lend itself to that kind of role.
His constant praise for the association and the money it makes plus the money he says he makes it seems to me that he's angling towards getting Dana's gig at some stage or another. There's a lot more to McGregor than just talking too, he knows how to make money and could be considered a serious business man.
I definitely don't doubt he is a businessman and a very clever person as well. But what he does is completely different to Dana's role really. He's brilliant at hyping fights but it would just be a bit odd to have him take a role because he sold his fights well.
I dunno really, I do like the guy a lot and find him hugely entertaining but I just couldn't see him doing anything like that. The WWE route seemed far more likely for him.