White doubles down on McGregor not fighting in 2024 despite star ‘blowing me up’ for December
Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Conor McGregor appears determined to fight in 2024, but Dana White has other plans.
Days after White surprised many by announcing that McGregor won’t fight in 2024 despite calls for a December date with Michael Chandler, the UFC CEO doubled down on his comments, reiterating to Canadian broadcast partner SportsNet that he strongly believes McGregor won’t make his UFC return in 2024 regardless of McGregor stating otherwise.
“I don’t know what Chandler’s planning on doing. I know he’s kind of kicking around right now,” White told SportsNet. “You know, you can imagine after I said that, Conor was blowing me up, going, ‘I’ll definitely fight this year.’ When we get to a point where we’re setting a fight and I believe that a Conor McGregor fight is going to happen, I will announce it.
“As of right now, I believe that Conor will not fight this year. Conor’s saying he wants to fight, he wants to fight in December. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Following White’s comments, McGregor issued a simple all-caps statement on social media Thursday night: “THE UFC LOVE AND WANT ME FOR DECEMBER! I AM READY.”
Chandler quickly agreed to McGregor’s proposed December date: “December it is.”
THE UFC LOVE AND WANT ME FOR DECEMBER! I AM READY.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 16, 2024
December it is
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) August 16, 2024
McGregor, 35, has been tentatively linked to a UFC return bout against Chandler since coaching against the former Bellator champion on The Ultimate Fighter 31 in early 2023. After a long, drawn-out saga, McGregor’s comeback fight against Chandler was initially scheduled for June 29 at UFC 303, however McGregor ultimately withdrew from the bout due to a broken pinky toe. “The Notorious” has not competed since suffering a broken leg in his July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier, but publicly maintains his desire to make a UFC return.
Chandler has also sidelined himself since a November 2022 loss to Poirier, largely to wait for McGregor. He told TMZ on Wednesday that he still hopes to fight McGregor in December but also indicated a willingness to move on to a different matchup if the McGregor bout fails to come together in 2024. He added that he believes White may not have been entirely truthful with his comments nixing the idea of McGregor making a winter return.
“There’s no reason why Conor can’t fight this year,” Chandler said. “Obviously, you know I can fight this year. I think it comes down to scheduling. December makes a lot of sense. November, you’ve got MSG, it’s already kind of booked up. Before that, you’ve got Abu Dhabi, so December is that big pay-per-view card. You know, cap off the year with a huge pay-per-view, Chandler vs. McGregor. Makes a lot of sense.
“Dana, as much as we love him, he has also said some things that were just absolutely false in press conferences and whatnot — which, that’s his job. Sometimes it’s his job to give you the exact information; his job is, sometimes, to give you misinformation. So sometimes, saying the fight isn’t happening this year might mean that this fight is happening this year, just like he did when I already knew I was fighting June 29.
“So you can read between the lines, but as far as I know, this fight has some very huge prospects to fight by the end of the year. Conor’s ready, I’m ready, let’s sign on the dotted line.”
