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The UFC president isn’t making any definitive statements about Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon, even as rumors swirl of a January bout with Donald Cerrone.
Back in August, Dana White addressed allegations of sexual assault facing UFC superstar Conor McGregor. His stance at the time, in response to reports that McGregor had allegedly raped a woman at a Dublin hotel late last year, sounded if not unconcerned, then at least not like something the UFC was prepared to need to address.
“I know zero about that, to be honest with you,” White told the assembled press, before adding that McGregor himself had told White that “it’s not him, that it’s somebody else.”
However, if the UFC was hoping this was a scandal that would go away, time has only sharpened the focus on SBG Ireland fighter. In the months since White’s statement, the New York Times has announced a second sexual assault investigation opened against the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion—with Insider.com reporting that McGregor had also been banned from an LA nightclub after allegedly forcing a bottle service girl into the back of a vehicle.
All of which has made rumors that the UFC is planning a McGregor fight in January, against Donald Cerrone, somewhat surprising. In a recent interview with ESPN, following UFC 244, White gave another statement on the UFC’s plans for McGregor, and the allegations the fighter is facing.
“There’s literally nothing done,” White said of the potential McGregor vs. Cerrone booking. “All the talk of ‘Cowboy’—Cowboy Cerrone hasn’t even been called. Cowboy Cerrone sent me a text today saying, ‘I hope all this chatter is true.’ So, there’s literally nothing going on with Conor McGregor right now.”
White added that he did like the potential Cerrone bout, before being asked about the accusations facing the “Irish sports star.”
“It’s obviously not fun,” White told ESPN. “I mean, that’s not good stuff. That’s not stuff that we’re excited to hear. And, he just plead guilty to this other thing too. So, yeah, there’s nothing going on right now. And when there is, I’ll let you guys know.”
The “other thing,” White referred to involved McGregor striking a man in a bar, who had apparently refused a glass of the fighter’s Proper 12 brand whiskey. McGregor was fined $1,116.68 for the assault, and released a statement apologizing for his actions and assuring the court that “nothing of this nature will happen again.”
Alongside a felony theft charge (which was later dropped, and apparently settled out of court) for the destruction of a man’s cell phone outside a Miami hotel, it’s been a year filled with the kind of attention that the UFC would likely rather just went away.