UFC CEO Dana White had to answer for former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor again following UFC 320 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Saturday night.
McGregor has caused quite a stir over the last several weeks after telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he was a lock to return to the UFC next summer at the White House on the South Lawn in an event White hopes is the best in the company’s history.
When White was asked to comment about McGregor’s claims that he had agreed to a fight, White immediately responded but held firm that, in his ideal world, the Irish superstar would indeed be a featured attraction for the event.
“We’re still talking about the production and how everything is going to work at the White House,” White said. “We have not started negotiating any fights for the White House yet. That won’t even start till February.”
White has seen McGregor’s remarks, hence his reassurance.
“I made it clear: Conor wants to fight on that card, and you can clearly see Conor is fired up to fight on that card, but nothing is done yet.”
McGregor has remained inactive for over four years as his MMA career and demons outside of it have been anything but ordinary.
READ MORE: Alex Pereira reveals he suffered brutal injury during UFC 320 fight
Dating to 2015, McGregor transcended the sport of MMA and the UFC brand holistically by competing in eight of the Top 10 biggest pay-per-views in promotional history.
This included the UFC’s biggest ever, McGregor’s final title fight to date in Oct. 2018 against Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fight did 2.4 million buys in an era where streaming-only was not an option for the UFC just yet and most consumers relied on purchasing the fight through their set-top boxes or watching live at their commercial establishment of choice.
If McGregor were to return to the UFC, he would be doing so off back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier, last earning a win in Jan. 2020 against Donald Cerrone prior to the onset of the global pandemic.
McGregor’s toe injury before his scheduled fight last June with TUF 31 coach Michael Chandler altered UFC 303 altogether. This allowed Alex Pereira to step in for McGregor-Chandler and save the event, as he would rematch Jiri Prochazka in a brand-new main event for Pereira’s light heavyweight title at the time, as Pereira came away victorious by night’s end.
McGregor has yet to respond to White’s comments, but if they taught the MMA community anything, the drama is far from settled.
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