Conor McGregor’s comeback in June was downgraded from ‘probably’ to ‘no’ by UFC CEO Dana White in his latest comments on the UFC sports star’s long-awaited return to action.
The UFC is still being extremely shifty regarding Conor McGregor’s return to fighting.
On New Years Eve coming into 2024, McGregor announced that he’d be fighting Michael Chandler on June 29th for the UFC’s International Fight Week pay-per-view. There was no corroborating message from the promotion regarding this, and UFC CEO Dana White was extremely non-committal about their biggest star’s return during UFC 297 fight week.
In an interview with Sportsnet, the most White would do was confirm McGregor would fight in 2024. As for a date or opponent? Still TBD. Following UFC 297, he told media at the post-fight press conference that Conor wouldn’t fight in June or on the recently relocated Saudi Arabia card set for around the same time.
Dana White stays mum on Conor McGregor’s return after #UFC297
“When Conor’s ready to fight, you know we’ll announce it. That’s what we do.” pic.twitter.com/s1LJDthUzj
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) January 21, 2024
“Uuuuh, no,” White said regarding McGregor’s June declaration. “When Conor is ready to fight, you know we’ll announce it. That’s what we’ll do.”
At this point, we have to wonder what’s going on behind the scenes that’s keeping the UFC from locking up McGregor’s comeback fight. “The Notorious” was champing at the bit to get back to action in December 2023, but the UFC’s refusal to waive a six month USADA testing period stopped that from happening. Then Mac set his sights on UFC 300 in April, but the promotion said ‘No thanks’ to that. Now June is looking like it might be off the table?
McGregor sounded extremely upset about the delays when he was in Riyadh this past December for the country’s big Day of Reckoning boxing event.
“Through what I came through to what I bring, they f—ing should open floodgates for me, yeah?” he declared. “And I’m waiting. I’m waiting and I’m waiting. My patience is wearing thin on me waiting.”
June will mark nearly three years since McGregor’s last fight, which ended with Conor’s leg snapped in half. It’s no surprise he’s eager to get back in the cage now that he’s healed up. So what’s the hold up?