The UFC president is going to sit down with his biggest star this weekend.
UFC president Dana White has a lot on his plate right now. With a new ESPN broadcast deal signed and delivered, his next order of business will be to assess where his biggest (and arguably most troubled) star is at right now in terms of his career ambitions. As a guest on ESPN’s SportsCenter today, White stated that he will be meeting up with Conor McGregor this weekend in Liverpool:
“We’re going to sit down and talk about his future and what’s next.”
It has become somewhat unusual for White to attend shows overseas, especially if they’re not PPVs. But he will be in Liverpool for their show, which will be headlined by Darren Till and Stephen Thompson.
The gorilla in the room when Dana has this conversation with Conor will be his current legal issues. McGregor is currently facing one felony and multiple misdemeanor charges in relation to his attack of a bus filled with UFC fighters ahead of UFC 223 last month. For his part, White was quite clear that he’s not there to advise him on that:
“Obviously, he has to deal with it in June. I’m flying to Liverpool this weekend for a fight there, and he and I are going to meet in Liverpool.”
…
“I have nothing to do with the legal issues, he’ll need to figure that out on his own.”
McGregor hasn’t competed in the Octagon since late 2016, and hasn’t competed at all since his September 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. He was stripped of the UFC lightweight title before UFC 223. It is currently held by Khabib Nurmagomedov.