Conor McGregor is once again a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. When the season has run its course, he is supposed to fight opposing coach Michael Chandler in the Octagon. But there is no word on when that fight might actually take place. So, Dana White, what gives?
Dana White shrugs off Conor McGregor what-ifs
UFC president Dana White was asked following UFC Vegas 74 over the weekend what Conor McGregor’s status is. And specifically about the fight with Michael Chandler. He didn’t say it wouldn’t happen. But he didn’t exactly say that it would, either.
In fact, White probably darkened the cloud of concern about McGregor’s return much more than he assuaged them.
“First of all, Conor called me a couple of days ago and loved the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter and how happy he was to be a part of it,” White started on a positive note.
“The one thing you guys need to understand is this kid has so much money. It’s like Khabib now. These guys have got sh*tloads of money. And it’s hard to real these guys back in and get them fired up to get in and fight.”
Asked straight out if there is any concern that McGregor never fights again, White shrugged it off.
“I never get concerned. We have a massive roster of people that want to come in and people that are ready to fight. And people that want to be Conor McGregor and want to be at that level,” White said, seemingly unconcerned if the biggest star his promotion has ever seen returns to the Octagon.
“For the last 20 years, everybody said, ‘Oh my God, what are you gonna do when Chuck Liddell retires? You guys are f**ked. Oh my God, GSP, Anderson Silve, this and that.’ This is a professional sport. People come in here. They achieve great things and they retire. You can never worry about that type of stuff. It’s part of my job and my team’s job to find new talent and mold them and take them to that new level.”
Dana White: ‘Conor McGregor is a global phenomenon’
Conor McGregor must re-submit to USADA drug testing
As of the time of publication, McGregor still had not shown up in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s athlete test history for UFC fighters who have been drug tested this year. He must be in that testing pool and provide clean results for at least six months before being eligible to fight again. There has also been no announcement as to if and when he will return to the testing pool.
White and company have been hoping to put McGregor and Chandler together by the end of 2023. But they are quickly running out of time for that to happen.
Dana White addresses possibility that Conor McGregor never fights again
Conor McGregor: What the heck is going on?
