Dana White emphatically shuts down Conor McGregor vs. Jorge Masvidal matchup

Surging UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal has recently been campaigning for a showdown with former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor. In fact, Masvidal’s manager recently stated that McGregor is the only opponent they’ll accept outside of a title fight with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

Unfortunately for team Masvidal, UFC President Dana White says it’s not happening.

“No. Hell no,” White told TMZ when asked about a fight between Masvidal and McGregor (transcript via MMA News).  “Masvidal’s too big for Conor.”

Conor McGregor has fought at welterweight twice previously, both times against Nate Diaz. Yet White believes the Irishman is simply undersized for that division, which rules out a fight with Masvidal.

“Yeah [he fought at welterweight], but he shouldn’t have,” White said. “I hated when he did it. Not only did I hate that he did it once, I hated that he did it twice. He doesn’t belong at that weight.”

That being said, White does expect Conor McGregor to return to the cage in the not too distant future. He says the upcoming lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier should provide some clarity as to where the Irishman fits into the division.

“I think he’ll be back either this year or early next year,” White said. “We’ll see how this whole thing plays out in September.”

While McGregor’s return seems to be closely tied to Nurmagomedov and Poirier’s fight, White says the Irishman will not be getting a shot at the winner.

“No, but it’ll shake a lot of things up whoever wins that fight” he said.

Conor McGregor has not fought since he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229 in October.

If not Nurmagomedov, Poirier or Masvidal, who do you want to see McGregor fight in his anticipated return to the cage?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/17/2019.