UFC president Dana White spoke on the timing of Conor McGregor’s return announcement against Max Holloway at UFC 329.

It was last Saturday that White revealed the full UFC 329 card, which features McGregor vs. Holloway 2 in the main event. The timing of the announcement raised eyebrows, as White revealed McGregor’s much-anticipated return at the same time that former UFC heavyweight champion — and White nemesis — Francis Ngannou was making his walk to the cage for the MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano event.

Many MMA fans took notice of the timing of the McGregor announcement, assuming that White did it then to take eyeballs away from MVP MMA’s event on Netflix. But White is denying that’s the case.

Dana White Speaks on Timing of McGregor Announcement

Speaking to Fred Talks Fighting at the Brand Risk Promotions 14 card at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, White was asked if the timing of the McGregor vs. Holloway 2 announcement was done on purpose or if it was a coincidence, and here’s what the UFC president said.

“Not a coincidence, I had a (expletive) fight here that night. Anybody who thinks that I gave a (expletive) what was going on anywhere else is out of their (expletive) minds,” White said. “We announced it as soon as we got it done, and we were in the middle of our event. I don’t give a (expletive) what those guys are doing. Are you kidding me?”

As you can see from White’s reaction, he was quite taken aback by any assertions from those in the MMA world that the timing of the McGregor vs. Holloway 2 fight was anything but a coincidence. Still, many won’t be convinced, as it just seemed quite odd that the UFC would drop the announcement of their biggest star’s comeback after five years away in the middle of a UFC Apex event featuring a main event between Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa that not a ton of people were watching.

Again, we’ll never know for sure, but given how much smack that Ronda Rousey was talking about the UFC in the lead-up to her event, those who questioned the timing of the McGregor announcement weren’t without their reasons, even if White is denying them.

McGregor vs. Holloway 2 Betting Odds

According to the latest betting odds for McGregor vs. Holloway 2, the Hawaiian is a -400 favorite to win, with the Irishman as a +330 underdog.

Given that McGregor has not fought in five years, it makes sense that Holloway is the favorite for this fight, given how active he is. Plus, Holloway has the superior chin and cardio, and this fight is five rounds, so the longer it goes, the more success he will have.

But the fight is taking place at welterweight, where McGregor has more experience competing, plus he has more pure knockout power. So while Holloway certainly has more advantages in the fight, McGregor has a few of his own, and you cannot completely write him off from winning this fight, even though it feels like the odds are stacked against him.