Dana White says Conor McGregor won’t fight in 2020, but has been offered January fight

UFC President Dana White says Conor McGregor won’t be fighting in the year 2020, but claims the Irishman could fight in January of the new year.

McGregor announced his retirement in June, but has since teased a return to the cage, most recently for a potential fight with Dustin Poirier.

White says he attempted to book a fight between the pair, and both claim to have accepted the matchup offer, but McGregor specified that he’s only interested if the fight happens in the year 2020.

Hello Dustin! I accepted the @ufc offer to fight you, but told them it must happen in 2020. I’m ready for Nov 21st, given that cards recent injury issues, as well as any of the December dates, the 12th and the 19th. I’ll also still donate the $500k to The Good Fight Foundation 🙏 https://t.co/23hN4AHtoI

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 8, 2020

“I accepted the UFC offer to fight you, but told them it must happen in 2020,” McGregor wrote to Poirier on Twitter recently. “I’m ready for Nov 21st, given that cards recent injury issues, as well as any of the December dates, the 12th and the 19th.”

White says it’s unlikely McGregor will get his wish for a fight in 2020, but added that the Irish star has been offered a date in January.

The UFC boss broke down the situation in a recent interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN.

“That’s not how it works. We laid out this year. [Conor McGregor] was retired. Would anybody disagree that he was retired?”

Dana White explains to @bokamotoESPN why McGregor won’t be scheduled to fight in 2020. pic.twitter.com/SEaCK8nY5G

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 14, 2020

“I have no idea” White said when asked what’s going on with McGregor. “We’ve offered him a fight. We got him his own date. You guys saw everything that happened on social. We didn’t have a date this year, we have everything laid out for the rest of the year, with world champions fighting for titles. He wants to fight Dustin Poirier apparently, so we went to ESPN, we got him his own date and everything. He’s been offered the Dustin fight on January 23.”

White claims to have no idea if McGregor will accept his offer for this January date, but is adamant that the Irishman will not fit into the UFC’s plans for the remainder of the year.

“I don’t know anything,” he said. “I offered him the date on January 23, that’s it.”

White later added that McGregor might have been able to fight this year had he not announced his retirement.

“That’s not how it works,” he said. “We laid out this year, he was retired. Would anybody disagree that he was retired?”

When do you think we’ll see Conor McGregor fight again?