Morning Report: Dana White ‘not interested’ in superfight between Georges St-Pierre and Khabib vs. McGregor winner.

When Georges St-Pierre made his return to the UFC after a four-year absence and moved up to middleweight to become only the fourth man to win champions in two weight divisions, many considered it the crowning achievement of his career, one that solidified his status as the greatest fighter ever. Now, St-Pierre wants to build on that legacy by becoming the first fighter to win titles in three divisions, declaring in interest in dropping down to lightweight to take on the winner of the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor title tilt that will take place at UFC 229 in October. There’s one problem though: UFC President Dana White is not a fan of the idea.

Speaking recently to The BBC MMA Show, White addressed the comments from St-Pierre, saying that St-Pierre was only trying to make as much money as possible, and while he doesn’t begrudge “GSP” that, he’s also “not interested” in facilitating it either.

“I’m not interested in that fight,” White said. “He knows that and I’ve told him that many times. He was the 170-pound champion, he moved up to 185 pounds to take on Michael Bisping - and put in his agreement that he would absolutely defend the title at 185 - and then just dumped the title. I’m not interested.

“Georges St-Pierre is looking for one-off fights where he can make a lot of money - which is smart, that’s what he should do - but we’re not interested in that.”

St-Pierre’s last comeback did leave the UFC high and dry. After making a big fuss about his contractual obligation to defend the middleweight title should he win it, St-Pierre vacated his middleweight title a month later, citing medical complications with ulcerative colitis that would keep him out of action indefinitely. White was none to happy with what happened but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to see St-Pierre return again, he just wants to see GSP back at his old stomping grounds, the welterweight division.

“I’m interested in [St-Pierre coming back]. I’m not interested in that fight. I’m interested in Georges St-Pierre coming back at 170, not at 155 pounds.

“I don’t know [if he will come back though]. He’s not too excited about fighting or defending his title or anything like that. I don’t know if he’ll ever fight again.”

St-Pierre last fought at UFC 217, submitting Michael Bisping to win the UFC middleweight title.

UFC 229 almost sold out; already second-largest gate in UFC history

Tickets were put on sale to the public on Friday, and UFC ticket sales are already the second largest live gate in MMA history.

If you have any doubt that UFC 229 will be among the biggest financial events in UFC history, live ticket sales say that you shouldn’t.

Tickets were put on sale to the public Friday, after a presale that started two days earlier for UFC Fight Club members. By the three-minute mark, the company had already sold enough tickets to where it will be the second largest live event gate in the history of the sport.

UFC 229, the Oct. 6 show headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor for the lightweight title, with a ticket price range from $205 up to $2505, had only a few hundred tickets, all in the most expensive sections, available after the first three minutes tickets were put on sale to the public. The show was reported as an immediate sellout, but there were still a small amount of tickets left at the AXS ticket web site at $990 and up, as of Saturday afternoon. On Friday night, there were only 300 tickets left remaining.

With the way the show was scaled, the advance has surpassed the Nevada MMA gate record, set at UFC 200 of $10,746,248. Most of the tickets for that show were sold based on Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title, a bout canceled late due to Jones failing a drug test, and Anderson Silva replacing him in a non-title match. Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt was also a major part of that show, as well as just the symbolism of being UFC 200. On fight night, the actual main event was Miesha Tate defending the women’s bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes.

The advance has also surpassed one of the sport’s most legendary events, UFC 129 at Rogers Center in Toronto, which drew a quick sellout of 55,724 fans, but with lower ticket prices. That gate was $12,075,000 U.S., for a show headlined by Georges St-Pierre defending the welterweight title against Jake Shields, A key aspect of the quick sellout of a stadium was it being UFC’s first time in Toronto, which had been one of the company’s strongest pay-per-view markets dating back to the mid-90s.

The all-time record, which this show won’t break is the one set for UFC 205 on November 12, 2016, the company’s first-ever event in New York, held in Madison Square Garden. That show set the all-time record for any event ever held in the world’s most famous arena, doing $17.7 million. McGregor captured the UFC lightweight title beating Eddie Alvarez. McGregor was later stripped of the title for failing to defend it, and Nurmagomedov became champion beating Al Iaquinta on April 7 at the Barclays Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

On the secondary market, the cheapest tickets, originally priced at $205, are going for $631 and up. A number of ringside seats are being priced in excess of $10,000, with $45,000 currently the highest asked-for price for a front row ringside seat. The number of tickets on the secondary market are substantially lower than one would expect for a show that has sold nearly 18,000 tickets.

Because of much higher ticket prices, the UFC’s biggest live gate were well above some of the huge stadium gates in Japan during the heyday of the Pride organization, which never came close to a $10 million show.

The quick pace of ticket sales is more impressive in Las Vegas, which gets major shows all the time, as compared to a blockbuster show in a first-time major market like the New York and Toronto show. Historically, when UFC increases ticket prices to set a gate record for Las Vegas, the tickets may sell out, or come close, but they’ve never sold this many tickets at the speed they did for this show in Las Vegas.

Andre Pederneiras talks Conor McGregor’s heartfelt comments after Jose Aldo’s win, UFC 229 main event

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Jose Aldo received several messages and compliments after his stunning first-round TKO over Jeremy Stephens at UFC on FOX 30, including from his longtime rival Conor McGregor, but that didn’t surprise his coach Andre Pederneiras.

Days after the featherweight bout in Calgary, which marked Aldo’s first non-title fight in nine years and his first stoppage victory since 2013, McGregor told TMZ he was “so happy” for Aldo and Pederneiras.

”Honestly, truly happy to see the joy he had after it,” McGregor said. “It’s a crazy business and I know he’s gone through a lot of stuff. So to see him come back with that great finish, I was very happy for him and his coach Andre Pederneiras. The whole of Ireland was happy for Jose Aldo that night.”

Speaking with the media in his training center in Rio de Janeiro recently, Pederneiras said that shows who McGregor really is as a person.

”I think Conor created this pejorative myth around him because of the things he says, but backstage he’s none of what he portrays himself to be to sell,” Pederneiras said. “Every time I met him he was super respectful, we shook hands, so it doesn’t surprise me that he had that reaction, especially now that he doesn’t have anything booked with Aldo. If he had something booked with Aldo he would say he was lucky, that he’s sh*t [laughs], only to provoke. He’s a guy that had done things I can’t see anyone else doing. He’s unique in history, can’t say anything.”

In a scrum with Brazilian reporters the same afternoon, Aldo was asked who he would pick as his next opponent if he could choose anyone at featherweight or lightweight, but said he would leave that decision for his coach.

Pederneiras didn’t think twice: Conor McGregor.

”The first fight didn’t represent what the fight really could be, and that’s unfortunate for everyone who wanted to watch it,” Pederneiras said, “so I would choose Conor even though I have nothing against him. I know there’s a good person behind that artist and it doesn’t represent what he says. He says a bunch of crap to get attention and sell.”

Pederneiras believes everything “The Notorious” does in public space and interviews is to promote himself and make more money, including his attack to a bus full of UFC fighters in Brooklyn, N.Y., targeting UFC lightweight champion and future opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov.

”That’s him being the artist, in my opinion,” Pederneiras said. “He knows that he will have to fight Khabib, so since he has to do that, why not start the mess now and start promoting it?”

Nurmagomedov opened up as an odds-on favorite for their UFC 229 tilt on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas, but the experienced Brazilian coach wouldn’t count McGregor out against the 26-0 champion.

”Man, I’ll tell you this, Conor is someone you can’t underestimate,” Pederneiras said. “He has done things I didn’t believe he could do, so I think it’s 50-50, but the physical advantage for Khabib is too big. I see the stand-up fight being too dangerous for Khabib, depending on how long it takes for him to taking the fight to the ground. But if he takes the fight to the ground quickly, his chances increase a lot.”