Dana White said he is extremely confident Conor McGregor will fight this summer, offering the clearest sign yet that the former two-division champion is nearing a return to the Octagon. White said McGregor is training and that footage of him working out is already circulating.
“We’re in a great place with Conor,” White said in a recent interview with Jim Rome, adding, “I’m extremely confident that Conor will fight this year” and “I’m extremely confident that we’ll get him dialed in and ready to roll.” He also said, “He’s training - there’s footage out there of him training right now…He’ll fight this summer.”
The comments come after a return fight for McGregor at UFC 329 had been heavily rumored during the last month or so, while Ariel Helwani said an announcement should come in the very near future. McGregor has not fought in the Octagon since breaking his ankle in the first round of a trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
That injury stopped a comeback attempt for a fighter who was already on a two-fight skid after losing to Poirier at UFC 257 earlier that year. His last win came at UFC 246, when he needed just 40 seconds to finish Donald Cerrone, more than a year after he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor is closing in on his 38th birthday, and the timing matters because the UFC’s calendar is moving toward two major summer checkpoints. The UFC 328 card in Newark, New Jersey, is scheduled to feature a pair of massive title fights at the top of the bill, while fans are also waiting for news on UFC 329, which is set to cap International Fight Week in July.
The open question is no longer whether White wants McGregor back. It is whether the sport’s biggest box office draw can make it to the cage in time to turn a long-rumored return into an actual booking.
