Dana White has stated his belief that Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon before the end of the year.
“Conor’s in a position where he’s sitting back right now, I think waiting to see how this whole thing plays out with all these guys but he should pop up soon,” White told BT Sports. “Yeah, I think we’ll see him this year.”
White also dismissed a claim by Justin Gaethje’s manager Ali Abdelaziz that McGregor had turned a fight down with his client.
“No, Conor hasn’t turned down anything,” White said. “Listen, Ali can say whatever, Conor doesn’t turn down fights, period.
“Conor has been one of the most stand up [guys], when things get crazy and most people pull out of fights, Conor McGregor stays in. McGregor isn’t afraid to fight anyone so that is absolutely false.”
Meanwhile, on the LVSports Biz podcast, White spoke about whether Tony Ferguson will be next for a shot at the winner of the lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier.
“Khabib is fighting Dustin Poirier in Abu Dhabi in September,” White said on the podcast. “Then I don’t know, then we’ll see. Tony Ferguson just came off a great win this weekend over “Cowboy” Cerrone and I’m assuming he’s next. Then we’ll see what happens with Conor, what Conor wants to do.”
So, Ferguson appears to be in pole position for now, but it doesn’t sound like a done deal as yet and that could still leave room for McGregor to try to muscle his way into a rematch with Nurmagomedov by the end of the year.
