UFC president Dana White says Conor McGregor will be paying attention to UFC 242, but he won’t be in attendance.
McGregor has been adamant about getting a rematch with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The “Notorious” one is willing to take another bout before a second crack at “The Eagle,” but he still believes he can avenge the Oct. 2018 loss.
White Says McGregor Won’t Attend UFC 242
At one point, White said it’s possible that McGregor could attend this Saturday’s (Sept. 7) pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi. Speaking to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, White confirmed McGregor’s status for the event (via BJPenn.com).
“He won’t be here,” White said. “I talk to Conor, normally, twice a month. I talked to him last night, this morning. No, he won’t be here. But he’ll be watching.”
“He was talking about my sunburn yesterday, so we’re not talking about anything serious,” White laughed.
With that said, White made it clear that Tony Ferguson should be next in line to meet the winner of Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier.
“If Tony Ferguson’s ready (he gets the next title shot),” White said. “Tony Ferguson has been offered opportunities before that he hasn’t taken. If Tony’s ready, then yeah.”
Ferguson is riding a 12-fight winning streak. He hasn’t suffered a loss since May 2012. “El Cucuy” recently told Ariel Helwani that he’s focused on getting the lightweight title shot, not on McGregor.
MMA News will be providing live coverage of UFC 242 this Saturday. Join us for live results, highlights and post-fight tidbits. We’ll be posting weigh-in results and main card predictions tomorrow.
