MMA News Roundup – Dana White Confirms Jon Jones Return and Conor McGregor’s Injury After UFC 303; Robert Whittaker Makes a Confession on Khamzat Chimaev

Have trouble catching up with the latest developments in MMA? Well, we have another edition of the daily roundup for you with the biggest headlines over the last 24 hours. Hence, today we’ll start with UFC CEO Dana White. The 54-year-old has seemingly confirmed the return of heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Then we’ll shift our attention to Conor McGregor, and Dana White addressed the rumors and speculations about him pulling out of UFC 303. Finally, we will end the roundup with former champion Robert Whittaker, who sounded pretty confident about the possible outcome of a fight between him and Khamzat Chimaev.

Jon Jones is returning soon, claims Dana White

It’s been more than a year since Jon Jones returned and had his first fight in three years. An injury halted plans for him to fight Stipe Miocic in November last year, but now, it seems like a return date could be in sight. While talking to the host on ‘The Jim Rome Show’, Dana White revealed that we will indeed get to see ‘Bones’ back in action sooner rather than later.

“We’ll see him soon. We’ll either see him in the summer or the fall,” said Dana White. Jon Jones recovered recently and started mild training sessions thereafter, but is he ready to go hard in the gym? We don’t know that yet because the UFC has also yet to announce when the Stipe Miocic fight will take place. Meanwhile, White opened up on another important issue that fans have been talking about and that’s the status of Conor McGregor’s injury.

UFC CEO claims Conor McGregor’s injury is “real”

From 2023 to 2024, Conor McGregor cannot seem to make his way back to the Octagon due to a multitude of barriers. He was originally supposed to fight in 2023, but the USADA pool exclusion would not allow that from happening. And now, this year, when the stage was set and everything was ready, he pulled out due to an undisclosed injury as fans began asking questions and speculating about some other reasons behind his pullout. Well, for starters, Dana White claimed that McGregor did not pull out, and instead, the injury is a real issue.

“Conor McGregor never leads up to a fight and tries to re-negotiate a contract or get more money….Conor McGregor is hurt right now, it’s absolutely real,” Dana White told Jim Rome. Now, the return date is not in sight since the injury took place recently. It remains to be seen how the UFC navigated their big Conor McGregor return in the months to come.

Robert Whittaker talks about fighting Khamzat Chimaev

As he gears up for a new opponent in Ikram Aliskerov, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker had some stern words about the fighter, with whom he was supposed to throw down his fists in Saudi Arabia, Khamzat Chimaev. Out of action due to illness, ‘Borz’ has been told by ‘The Reaper’ that his fighting style is no match for the Aussie star when the host of the ‘SHAK MMA’ podcast, Shakiel Mahjouri, asked him if his style is “tailor-made” to weigh heavily on Chimaev.

“Mate, I think I’m tailor-made to disrupt everyone. I think I’m the kryptonite of everybody in this division,” said a confident Robert Whittaker. Well, the Khamzat Chimaev fight might have gotten scrapped, and hence, it will be interesting to see how he fares against Ikram Aliskerov, who’s been on a tear recently. What do you think about Whittaker’s statement?