Conor McGregor has been teasing a return, then teasing a retirement and wash, rinse, repeat ever since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. Dana White has also offered conflicting updates on McGregor, at times speculating if a man of McGregor’s wealth will ever fight again, other times stating that McGregor is expected to fight in the not-too-distant future. In his latest McGregor update, Dana White would return to the latter narrative:
“I think he’ll be back either this year or early next year,” White told TMZ. “We’ll see how this whole thing plays out in September.”
On September 7th, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s next lightweight title defense will be against interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in Abu Dhabi. If September is such a crucial month for McGregor, does that mean he will get his wish and get a title shot, preferably against Nurmagomedov, upon his return?
“No, but it’ll shake a lot of things up whoever wins that fight” White responded.
Another name that has been floating around in the headlines as a potential opponent for McGregor is the hottest welterweight in the promotion right now, Jorge Masvidal. After Masvidal’s record-setting knockout of Ben Askren at UFC 239, both Masvidal and his management expressed interest in a red panty night against The Notorious One, but Dana White swiftly blocked Masvidal’s shot:
“No. Hell no,” White said of a potential Masvidal/McGregor fight. “Masvidal’s too big for Conor.”
Of course, McGregor has competed at welterweight before in both fights against Nate Diaz, and White wasn’t a fan of it then, and he’s not a fan of it today:
“Yeah, but he shouldn’t have,” White said of McGregor’s past welterweight bouts. “I hated when he did it. Not only did I hate that he did it once, I hated that he did it twice. He doesn’t belong at that weight.”
With Khabib/Poirier winner and Masvidal both ruled out, who do you think Conor McGregor will face if/when he returns to the UFC?
