Dana White remains optimistic that the UFC’s biggest star will be returning to competition sooner than later.
Following his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, Conor McGregor’s MMA career once again became inactive, this time involuntarily, as he had to await and later receive his fate from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), which would suspend McGregor for six months for his role in the UFC 229 melee. McGregor is already eligible to return to fighting, and Dana White would repeat some familiar quotes as to why McGregor is yet to be booked for his return already:
“Yeah, Conor’s one of our huge stars,” Dana White said in an appearance on The Jim Rome Show on Tuesday. “I said after the [Floyd] Mayweather fight, when a kid makes this kind of money, he may never fight again. Look at how many times he’s fought since the Mayweather fight. That’s what happens. I don’t know if you read the business news but he just hit over $1 billion in sales in his whiskey company. Conor McGregor’s doing really well financially and when you start doing really well financially, it definitely interferes with your fighting career.”
But that career interference should soon be coming to an end, or at least that’s the plan:
“He and I are getting together very soon, within the next week, and we’re going to figure out what’s next for him. I see him fighting this summer,” White continued.
And whom would McGregor face should he return this summer? One name that continues to float around, often self-propelled, is that of Donald “Cowboy Cerrone” who once again flung his name to the top of the hat’s heap in his post-fight interview at UFC Ottawa after being victorious over Al Iaquinta in the headliner. And in a case of déjà vu, Dana White once again is onboard with the fight, just as he was months ago:
“The Cerrone fight makes sense,” White said.”There’s a couple different options out there for him. He was talking about the Cerrone fight at one point. I don’t really know but that fight makes sense.”
Do you believe we will see Conor McGregor fighting this summer? And against whom?
