Despite the fact Conor McGregor said he doesn’t want to wait until late summer, early fall, for his next fight, Dana White had been saying the plan is to have the star wait for a title shot. But, in a more recent interview, the UFC President acknowledged that McGregor could fight in the interim.
White says McGregor “might not wait”
Late last year, McGregor repeatedly said that he wants to fight three times in 2020, and that he was approaching the year like a season. After McGregor stormed through Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January, White said having the former champ wait to face the winner of the April 18th bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson was the plan.
But, immediately after his win over Cerrone on January 18th, McGregor said the following (quote via MMA Mania):
“I don’t think the ‘who’ matters,” McGregor said. “I think okay, the Lightweight title will be there. That will be there. You see the difference in the physique, the preparation and all that. That will come back around, that shot. So I’m certainly not — if the [Khabib vs. Tony] fight does go ahead — sitting out and waiting and then wait through holidays and injuries and everything that goes with it. The who doesn’t matter to me now. I’m looking at dates now. I know March was there. I’m gonna have a look at a calendar and see where we’re at.”
Now, the chances of McGregor fighting in March are slim to none: today’s the 1st and he’s booked for a fight. But, when TMZ Sports caught up with White recently, they asked the UFC President if the plan’s still to have McGregor wait for another crack at the lightweight title.
White said this (quote via MMA Fighting):
“Khabib if he wins,” White said. “But I don’t know if Conor wants to wait for him. We’ll see what happens. Conor might not wait.”
There you have it. This is is pretty interesting to hear from White, considering this is the first time he’s acknowledged publicly the possibility of McGregor fighting in the interim.
What could happen next?
Recently it was reported that there have been talks about Justin Gaethje fighting McGregor in the summer. Gaethje’s manager, however, shot that report down. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that fight couldn’t materialize. Another possibility is a rubber match between McGregor and Nate Diaz. McGregor has repeatedly talked about that fight happening at some juncture.
Opponent aside, when you consider McGregor, his coach John Kavanagh and his manager have all said the plan is to have the star fight again before the fall, it’s starting to look like that could indeed happen.
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