Getty Conor McGregor shares his Irish Whiskey with UFC President Dana White during the UFC 229 Press Conference at Radio City Music Hall on September 20, 2018 in New York City.
Since UFC superstar Conor “Notorious” McGregor announced his retirement in June, fans have been speculating when the Irishman will return to action. Many in the MMA community do not believe McGregor will be gone for good, including UFC president Dana White. However, White confirmed that McGregor will not be fighting in 2020.
White was recently interviewed on Barstool Sports’ My Mom’s Basement podcast and he was asked about McGregor’s fighting future. White said that McGregor will stay retired for the remainder of 2020.
The UFC president said, “I’m not saying he won’t fight in 2021, but I’m telling you we don’t have a fight planned for him in 2021. But I guarantee you he will not fight in 2020. Conor McGregor is retired.”
White explained further: “Do we all believe he’ll stay retired? I think most of us don’t believe that he’ll remain retired. But let me put it to you this way: I owe fighters that are under contract with me three fights a year, okay? If I don’t deliver those three fights a year, I have to pay them. Conor McGregor is retired, whether people want to believe it or not.
He then said that if McGregor says he’s not fighting, then he’s out of the mix. White said: “[McGregor] is not fighting right now, so when he’s not fighting, I don’t even think about him or what he’s doing or any of that stuff on a business level. I’ll still shoot him a text personally, but on a business level, he’s out of the mix. He’s not fighting at all.”
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White Doesn’t Believe McGregor Actually Wants to Box Manny Pacquiao
Notorious recently tweeted “I accept” in Talagog, which is spoken as a second language by the majority of Filipinos. After that tweet, many speculated that McGregor was angling for a fight with the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao.
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White said, “So everybody keeps asking questions about him, and I’m like, Manny Pacquiao? What the f*** are you talking about?”
White said that if Notorious truly wanted to fight Pacquiao, the Irishman would have contacted him. McGregor is under contract with the UFC and he would have to receive the company’s blessing to do another cross-promotional fight as he did with Floyd Mayweather.
The UFC president said, “If he wanted to do it, he would’ve called me.”
Notorious Last Stepped Inside the Octagon to Fight Donald Cerrone at UFC 246
After taking more than a year hiatus from the sport, McGregor returned to the Octagon in January for UFC 246 to fight Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in a welterweight match. Notorious put on an impressive performance, dismantling the UFC veteran in only 40 seconds.
Before his bout with Cowboy, McGregor made it clear that he wanted to fight three times in 2020. However, because of COVID-19 and available fight options, Notorious’ competition schedule was derailed and he retired.
Since his retirement in June, Notorious has been active on social media trading verbals jabs with rivals including Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz and Justin Gaethje.
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