UFC president Dana White has contradicted Conor McGregor’s remarks about his comeback date by saying he does not expect his best-known fighter to return until the autumn.
Irishman McGregor has not fought since he suffered a broken leg in a defeat to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, but the two-weight champion announced in December that he would fight Michael Chandler at middleweight on June 29.
Read our other football news stories here:
Tebas believes Madrid will seal Mbappe deal
Brentford midfielder Dasilva to undergo surgery
Brentford demand action after Toney racially abused
“I’m hoping for the fall,” White told The Pat McAfee Show of the bout, adding that he expected it to happen “eventually” and “hopefully this year”. “We can get it done in the fall.”
McGregor and American Chandler have been on an established collision course within the promotion because they are coaches on the current edition of UFC reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter.
View this post on Instagram
A fight between the pair was delayed last year because McGregor was not part of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (Usada) testing pool, which he returned to in October.
The UFC has since said it is ending its partnership with Usada and will create a new anti-doping programme.
Former Bellator lightweight champion Chandler has been beaten in three of his five fights since joining the UFC, most recently losing by submission to Poirier in November.
