Dana White and Conor McGregor disagree on his timeline to return
LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor and UFC president Dana White might need to get on the phone together.
Just weeks after McGregor's stunning second-round knockout over Eddie Alvarez in November, White stated that he expected the first-ever simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history to be out for the next 10 months.
McGregor had said after his last fight that with his first child on the way and a very busy scheduled over the last two years that he was going to take a longer break than usual. The 10-month timeline described by White sounded excessive and McGregor even backed off his original statement just recently when speaking in Ireland.
“I’m ready for anything. I did say I was going to take a break but a Christmas break, the holidays. At least give me the holidays off. We’ll see what happens in the future," McGregor said.
Apparently, McGregor still hasn't told that to White directly because he says as far as he's concerned, the current lightweight champion won't be returning until deep into 2017.
White doesn't fault McGregor for taking the time off, but he's not currently looking to book him for any fights in the near future.
"The last conversation that Conor and I had he was taking 10 months off. I'm not even thinking about Conor. Conor is not in my plans for the next 10 months," White said on Wednesday.
"We run a business where we make fights. I know who's available and I know who's not available. Conor told me 'I'm not available for 10 months, we're having a baby, my girl stresses out when I fight and I don't want to put that on her while she's pregnant.' I love it, I respect it, I get it. Do your thing, buddy."
Obviously matchmaking for 2017 has already started for the UFC as the promotion has filled out cards with fights as far as February and March with more to be added in the coming weeks.
From the sound of things, White doesn't intend on any of those cards to include McGregor for quite some time.
"That's it," White said. "He's not in any of our plans for the next 10 months."
