Conor McGregor contradicts Dana White's date for UFC comeback fight
Conor McGregor has contradicted UFC boss Dana White's stance about his comeback fight by insisting it will take place this summer.
McGregor's comeback fight against Michael Chandler was announced over a year ago but has since faced several delays. The pair were expected to meet last December after coaching against each other on The Ultimate Fighter. A date is yet to be set in stone but McGregor seems to think the fight will take place on June 29 to headline the promotion's International Fight Week.
“Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest sporting days for my friends in the States, second only to the Mac’s return to the octagon this summer! Good luck to the 49ers and the Chiefs, leave something in Vegas for me,” McGregor wrote. The Irishman's admission comes just a week after White gave autumn as the new targeted date for McGregor's UFC return.
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“Hopefully this year. There is no date. I’m hoping for the fall. [Hopefully] we get it done in the fall," White said on The Pat McAfee Show. Over three years would have passed since McGregor's last fight if he doesn't return to the octagon by mid-July. Chandler has also been waiting for over a year for his shot at McGregor and is starting to get frustrated whilst sitting on the sidelines.
Logan Paul and KSI announce new partnership with UFC president Dana WhiteMcGregor was ineligible to fight for most of last year because of his drug testing status but he re-entered the testing pool last October. The UFC cut ties with USADA at the end of December to launch a new testing programme with Drug Free Sport and McGregor provided two samples to the organisation last month.
Both McGregor and Chandler were beaten by Dustin Poirier in their last fights and the latter, who turns 38 in April, said of his fight with McGregor: "I finish Conor within the first two rounds and after that, probably end his career. There’s just so much more than what people think about on the surface level.
"I want battlegrounds of epic proportions, I want to stand in the cage with that man, I want to break that man’s will, I want to break his jaw. I want to separate him from consciousness, completely flatline him inside the octagon, and then we say farewell to the sport’s biggest star. Then we can go about our merry way."