UFC President Dana White revealed on the UFC Unfiltered podcast with Jim Norton and Matt Serra that superstar Conor McGregor would be taking 10 months off.
The topic came up while White was discussing the UFC’s decision to vacate McGregor‘s featherweight title that he won in December 2015 by knocking out Jose Aldo.
“That [featherweight] belt hadn’t been defended in almost a year, and Conor’s taking another 10 months off for maternity,” White said (at the 17:19 mark on the podcast). “It’s not fair to the rest of the guys in that division. You can’t tie up the entire division, but I did let him fight for [two titles]. I let him do it.”
McGregor also won the lightweight title by defeating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November.
And he was always expected to take time off, as White told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times back in November that McGregor wouldn’t fight before May.
“His girl [Dee Devlin] gets super stressed out when he fights,” White told Pugmire in November. “He doesn’t want her having any of that stress while she’s pregnant. He’s good. He should take time off. He’s been fighting nonstop. Nothing wrong with him taking time off. It’s good for him and her, and it’s good for the baby.”
Now, however, it appears McGregor will be off until September 2017.
UFC’s brashest personality and arguably most talented fighter has been a popular topic of conversation for White of late. When asked about the possibility of McGregor taking on Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing bout sometime in the future, White bluntly told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports: “It ain’t happening.”
Since McGregor is under contract with the UFC, he would need the organization’s permission to take on Mayweather. White’s comments indicate in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t sign off on that fight.
Of course, McGregor has also indicated that he wants equity in the UFC and won’t fight again unless he receives it, according to Iole. He’ll have plenty of time to determine if he wants to stick to those guns and end his UFC career over the next 10 months.
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