McGregor isn’t happy with Dana White’s claim that he won’t fight in 2024, and he’s calling for a December date to be honored.
Conor McGregor seems to be denying news from UFC CEO Dana White that he won’t be making his return in 2024.
White made the shocking announcement following the return of his Tuesday night Contender Series on ESPN+.
“Not this year,” White said of a McGregor return. “He won’t fight this year.”
That’s an interesting statement to make, considering numerous sources have told us McGregor is expected to fight on the final pay-per-view of 2024 in Las Vegas: UFC 310 on December 14th. In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), McGregor himself confirmed those plans with UFC.
“Ah Dana, December is the date!” Conor wrote. “Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER!”
Ah Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER! https://t.co/ZTVO4wDBuQ
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 14, 2024
This isn’t the first time McGregor has had December plans pulled out from under him. Last year “The Notorious” hoped to fight by the end of 2023, but issues with USADA seemingly kept him from competing. The UFC eventually announced a June comeback date in 2024, only for McGregor to withdraw over a broken toe.
Interestingly enough, MMA Mania is hearing behind the scenes that there is no change to current plans for UFC’s December event. Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler is still expected to be the main event. So what’s going on? Our current bet: this has to do with UFC 306, also known as Riyadh Season Noche UFC.
Tickets for the ultra-expensive Noche UFC are not moving. They simply cost too much. Every week prices are dropping, but the biggest movement is coming from annoyed ticket buyers upgrading their older, more expensive tickets for better seats of the same value.
The fanbase isn’t made of endless cash. If people know that Conor McGregor is fighting in December, a lot of them are going to save their money for that event and not the Sphere. So announcing McGregor is off could just be White’s attempt to move tickets for UFC 306.
Then again, the Sphere is an extremely expensive and extremely important event for White, especially now that he’s declared war on Canelo Alvarez. As we noted in our previous article on Dana’s Mac announcement, McGregor is essential to securing a top dollar broadcast deal during negotiations that are set to commence in early 2025. Pushing McGregor’s fight back again helps Sphere ticket sales, and helps keep Mac from talking free agency while UFC talks billion dollar broadcast deals with Disney, Netflix, and Amazon.
So is White bluffing or for real when he says Mac won’t fight this year? Right now we’d say he’s bluffing. But that could change if Noche UFC tickets don’t sell out soon.