“The fighting face of a nation!” Mike Goldberg’s iconic commentary snippet from UFC 189 personifies Conor McGregor’s importance in the world of fighting. Maybe not the greatest, but there’s no question that the Irishman is the biggest star the sport of MMA has ever produced. His infectious, over-the-top personality, coupled with generation-defining performances, made him the most valuable star for Dana White in the late 2010s. However, former welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal claims that the Dubliner wouldn’t have become the star he is today if the UFC CEO didn’t hold his hand along the way.

Yes, Masvidal, who is himself one of the biggest UFC stars and the inaugural BMF champion, has made an interesting revelation about the matchmaking tactics of his former employer. He claims that the head honcho was biased while picking the opponents for McGregor. Given that the Irishman excelled in the striking department, being one of the best counter-punchers ever, Masvidal claims White decided to keep his cash cow’s aura intact by not putting him in front of vaunted grapplers.

By the time McGregor fought for the interim 145lbs strap, he had no fighters under his belt against a grappler or a wrestler. It was only after he fought Chad Mendes, who’s a 2-time NCAA Division I All-American, that he opened himself to other grappling-heavy fighters, like Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov. But by that time, ‘The Notorious’ was already the biggest name in the game and Masvidal emphasized heavily on this fact while explaining McGregor’s rise to fame and glory.

“The UFC pick and chose stars. Like, on his way up, he didn’t face no wrestlers, and the only one he did was Chad Mendes on like, seven days’ notice,” Jorge Masvidal stated on the AK Podcast. “That is the only wrestler he faced up. Why? Because it’d be compromising to put him in there against one of the top grapplers that’ll take all the finesse away, take him down, make the fight f—ing boring, beat Conor, and now, let’s say he’s out of the mix.”

McGregor’s record against grapplers and wrestlers isn’t really great. He didn’t just lose to Diaz but also to the Dagestani juggernaut at UFC 196 and UFC 229 respectively. But despite that, he would remain a big star. ‘Gamebred’ claimed that the UFC has adopted a similar strategy for many of its favorite picks. “We’ve seen it with numerous other guys that they feel that, ‘We’ll keep this one guy away from all these other guys until we get him to stardom and then, you know, we’ll see how that plays out,” the former BMF title holder added.

Well, throughout the years, the term ‘Dana White Privilege’, coined by former star Tony Ferguson, has appeared to be a real thing. But then again, there’s another way that the UFC CEO does business, according to another former UFC fighter, which really hurt a fighter’s career.

Ben Askren reveals what happens to fighters that Dana White doesn’t like

Dana White has often been vocal about his outlook on fighters’ performances as he’s always looking for, in his own words, “holy s—” moments. So fighters who tend to have a less exciting approach to their fight game, or depend more on their wrestling, might find themselves out of the title picture. Well, it’s true according to Ben Askren. The former welterweight fighter had a similar brand of fighting, which didn’t earn him a title shot.

Citing how many fighters someone like Merab Dvalishvili had to earn massive win streaks, Askren said, “I freaking hate it when Dana does this s–t and doesn’t give people he doesn’t like title shots,” to Daniel Cormier on the latter’s YouTube channel in February. “Because Merab, how many did he win, like nine in a row or something?” Cormier seemed to agree with that statement and brought up Belal Muhammad‘s journey to the UFC title.

Well, Dana White has a business to run, so maybe he’s got legitimate reasons for the approach he tends to take when it comes to certain fighters. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments down below.