Dana White remains uncertain about scheduling the long-awaited fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, despite McGregor’s recent claims of discussing a new date with White for 2024.
Dana White still isn’t ready to speculate on when the long-awaited fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler might actually happen.
This past weekend, McGregor responded to a message from Chandler. He mentioned he spoke to the UFC CEO about rescheduling the fight, which was initially supposed to take place at UFC 303 in June.
The fight was scrapped after McGregor suffered a broken pinky toe during training. This injury forced him off the card.
“I talked to Dana today about our new date, all looking good! 24’ for sure,” McGregor wrote.
On Monday, White confirmed that McGregor had texted him after an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. However, he didn’t hint at any actual conversation regarding the fight booking.
Ever since McGregor’s injury delayed the fight past UFC 303, White has insisted on not speculating or announcing anything until he’s sure that the Irish superstar is healthy and ready to compete again.
“As of sitting here right here, right now, no, I don’t have a date for it or a plan or anything like that,” White told The Pat McAfee Show. “Obviously, me, the fans, and ESPN would love it to happen in [2024], but we’ll see what happens.”
McGregor hasn’t fought in over three years. His last appearance was in 2021 when he suffered a gruesome broken leg at the end of the opening round in his trilogy against Dustin Poirier.
He was eventually matched up with Chandler as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. But the reality show came and went without a fight between them actually being scheduled.
McGregor continued teasing his timeline to return before eventually announcing plans to fight at UFC 303. This event was scheduled at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 29.
Everything seemed on track until a planned press conference in Ireland was suddenly canceled at the last minute. It was later revealed that McGregor had suffered an injury during training and would no longer compete in June.
The UFC calendar is already set for the remainder of the year with events like UFC 304 in England and UFC 305 in Australia. There’s also Noche UFC (UFC 306) set for Las Vegas.
UFC 307 is tentatively planned for early October with rumors swirling around Utah as a potential location. Following that is UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi later that same month.
As of now, UFC 309 is expected in New York come November and then UFC 310 would close out the year in December.
Based on this schedule and current lineup of fights, December seems like the best possible landing spot for McGregor’s return. But again—nothing has been determined yet.
“That’s the fight that needs to happen,” White said about McGregor vs. Chandler. “We’ve been waiting for it. It’s an awesome fight; it’s a fun fight.”