Those waiting for Conor McGregor to return better get comfortable because the UFC is now saying they expect him to fight at the end of next year. That’s right: the END of 2025.
With the Jon Jones situation sitting as it is, here’s your reminder that the UFC is willing to freeze out anybody on their roster. Anybody, including their biggest star Conor McGregor.
McGregor hasn’t competed since snapping his leg in half July 2021. The Irish sports star went through a hellish rehab process to get back into a position to compete again. He re-entered himself in the USADA drug testing pool in October 2023 hoping to score an exemption to fight within six months, but that didn’t happen. He also didn’t end up on UFC 300 in April 2024 despite angling to get on that card.
A UFC 303 fight in late June fell through due to a minor injury, but never came back together after McGregor recovered. Since then it’s been a mysterious game of date pushing from UFC CEO Dana White. First everyone was told UFC 310 in December. Then White said McGregor would fight in early 2025. Now following UFC 309, Dana says the new plan is end of 2025.
Dana White said that Conor McGregor will most likely return at the end of 2025.
“Conor hits me all the time he wants to fight. He will probably return at the end of 2025. If it’s earlier – it’s good for all of us.”
@ufc ?? pic.twitter.com/aEViW690PG
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) November 17, 2024
“Conor’s gonna come back late ‘25, so there’s a lot of time before we figure out who’s gonna fight Conor,” he said when asked if they were interested in re-booking McGregor vs. Michael Chandler.
“There’s no doubt that Conor — Conor hits me up all the time,” he said at the UFC 309 post-fight press conference. “Conor wants to fight. I told you guys that he probably wouldn’t fight in 2024, and he didn’t. He’s gonna fight in 2025. Probably at the end of the year. If it’s earlier, that’s good for all of us.”
When asked why so late, White simply replied “(That’s) when it’s going to play out.”
Conor McGregor says he’s spoken to Sheikh Turki Alalshikh to help him try to get a fight date since he’s “out of the loop” with the UFC
@bareknucklefc #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/v0Yc3wKZOd
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 14, 2024
Meanwhile, McGregor has been champing at the bit trying to get a fight, making overtures to Saudi boxing power broker Turki Alalsheik to intercede and help him fight February 1st when the UFC returns to Saudi Arabia. He also wasn’t happy when news came out that his December date was no more — which seems wise now considering its proximity to an ongoing civil rape trial in Dublin that Conor is the center of.
When the December option disappeared, McGregor started talking about free agency as ‘the promised land,’ which may explain part of why White seems more interested in holding onto the last two fights on Conor’s contract than actually fighting him. Whatever the case, we imagine McGregor will have some things to say about this new shift another year down the road for his return.
What “The Notorious” once said would be the greatest comeback in the history of sports has quickly turned into one of the most vaporous non-events, and it comes down to the UFC being generally disinterested in putting McGregor back in the cage.