UFC President Dana White implied that Conor McGregor will return in November at the earliest after the former champion broke a toe this month.
McGregor, who has not fought since breaking his leg in a defeat in July 2021, was expected to return against michael chandler on Saturday (June 29). However, the fight was canceled earlier this month, with a new main event scheduled for UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
McGregor, 35, has expressed his desire to return this summer, but the UFC has already scheduled main fights for its July and August pay-per-view events.
This has led some fans to theorize that the Irishman could headline September’s pay-per-view at the Sphere in Las Vegas, or one of the October events in Salt Lake City and Abu Dhabi.
However, when questioned by Sports stool Whether McGregor could return in August, September or October, White said “none of the above” on Thursday.
That leaves November’s pay-per-view at New York’s Madison Square Garden and December – at an as-yet-unnamed venue – for McGregor’s return.
In the new main fight of UFC 303 Alex Pereira will defend his light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka. The Brazilian stopped the former champion in November to win the vacant belt, having previously held the middleweight title.
Meanwhile, the July pay-per-view in Manchester will be headlined by welterweight champions Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad, and the August event in Perth will end with a middleweight title fight: Dricus Du Plessis versus former champion Israel Adesanya.
A featherweight fight between champion Ilia Topuria and former title holder Max Holloway is rumored to headline the September card, while the October pay-per-view could feature Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan for the title of the light ones.
Challenger Tsarukyan must successfully reduce the ban, however, if the fight is to happen. The Russian-Armenian was suspended for nine months this week after hitting a fan during his UFC 300 stoppage.
