Dana White Says “Best” Move For Conor McGregor is to Wait For LW Title Shot

Conor McGregor’s plans for 2020 included him fighting often, and as a result, the star’s publicly relayed he wants to fight again this summer. But, UFC President Dana White believes the former champ’s best move is to sit out, and wait for another shot at the lightweight crown.

White advises McGregor to wait

Leading up to 2020, McGregor talked about his plan to approach 2020 like a season, and to fight three times. After he quickly took out Donald Cerrone in January, McGregor and his team repeated that wish, even though White reported he had earned a title shot.

Well, fast forward to today, and it’s still not clear when and who McGregor will fight next. But, while talking on the  “Talk the Talk” podcast recently White had this advice for Conor (quotes via MMA Junkie)

“I think that the best thing for him – I’m not saying this is what’s going to happen – but in my opinion he lets this Gaethje-Khabib fight play out, then he fights the winner,” White said.

“I think that’s the smartest move for him.”

“You know him. Maybe he wants to fight before that and if he does, we can figure something out,” he said. “But I think that’s the move for him right now.”

So will McGregor wait?

No one should be too surprised to hear White say this. After all, and as noted above, when Conor beat Cerrone, White said McGregor was next in line for a title shot.

Although McGregor said back then he didn’t want to wait out, and he’s been saying he wants to fight this summer, things have changed since earlier this year. Most notably, because, Gaethje is now holding the interim belt, and is expected to fight Nurmagomedov. 

So, the Gaethje fight is no longer an option for Conor, like it was when Tony Ferguson was still scheduled to fight Khabib. That leaves Nate Diaz or possibly Jorge Masvidal as possibilities for Conor at welterweight.

But, there’s been no recent indications that those fights are in the works.

The other thing to consider here, however, is whether Khabib would agree to fight Conor again, provided he defends the belt against Gaethje. Nurmagomedov has repeatedly argued that Conor needs to defeat another, top tier lightweight, and that hasn’t happened.

So, we’ll see what happens here. Who knows, maybe McGregor will insist on fighting in the interim, and he’ll return to the Octagon before the fall after all.