Conor McGregor return bolstered by ‘great things behind the scenes’, says UFC chief Dana White

“He’ll fight this summer. Let me just start there: he’ll fight this summer. I thought it would happen last year; it didn’t, [but] I’m extremely confident it will happen this summer.

“He seems motivated, he’s training. There are a lot of other great things going on behind the scenes that make me very confident he’ll fight this summer.”

McGregor was initially seeking a spot on the UFC’s upcoming White House fight card, an unprecedented event that will take place on 14 June. However, White was always coy on McGregor’s involvement, and the Irishman ultimately missed out.

Conor McGregor missed out on the card for the UFC White House event (Getty)

The next major event will be UFC 329, though, with McGregor the frontrunner to headline – three days before he turns 38.

During his prime, McGregor became the first dual-weight champion in UFC history with captivating knockouts of Jose Aldo (in 13 seconds) and Eddie Alvarez. He also crossed into boxing to fight the legendary Floyd Mayweather, but since losing that match via stoppage in 2017, he has gone 1-3 in the UFC.

In McGregor’s return to the promotion after fighting Mayweather, he was submitted by bitter rival Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018; his subsequent bouts were a 40-second stoppage of Donald Cerrone in 2020 and his two losses to Poirier in 2021 – by KO and doctor stoppage.

Outside of the cage, McGregor has faced numerous legal issues throughout his career. In 2024, a civil jury found that he had sexually assaulted a woman in Dublin in 2018, though McGregor has always denied the allegations against him.