UFC President Dana White and Conor McGregor (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
When will Conor McGregor be ready to return to the UFC’s Octagon?
The answer to that question depends on who you ask. On Tuesday, Aug. 13, following the first episode of Season 8 of Dana White Contender Series, the UFC President said McGregor would not fight in 2024.
That would make sense, considering most of the upcoming pay-per-view dates already have main events, including the as-yet-finalized or official UFC 309 card at Madison Square Garden, where Jon Jones is expected to defend his title against Stipe Miocic.
If that pay-per-view stays intact, there should be one remaining for 2024, which would be in December–presumably UFC 310.
That’s the event McGregor has identified as an ideal return date. After seeing White’s comments, McGregor took to social media to make his desire to fight in December known.
In a now-deleted post on X, McGregor said: “Ah, Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what is this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and the UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER!”
MMA Orbit captured an image of the post before McGregor deleted it.
In 2023, the UFC closed its pay-per-view year with UFC 296. Then-welterweight champion Leon Edwards successfully defended his title in a grudge match against Colby Covington.
In 2022, the promotion closed the year with a pay-per-view card headlined by a battle for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev.
The fight ended in a draw, which was appropriate for one of the weaker pay-per-view lineups the promotion has presented to fans–especially in a year-end show in years. It would be a shock if the UFC didn't plan to hold a pay-per-view event in December.
If that happens, it would be the first time since 2005 that the promotion has not held a pay-per-view event in the final month of the year. Because of the longstanding history of finishing the year with a big show, a December pay-per-view seems more likely than not, and I wouldn't rule McGregor out for the main event spot.
I'd also look for a potential fight for women's strawweight queen Weili Zhang. She doesn't have a fight scheduled, and her last fight was in April. A Weili fight is also possible for the Jones-Miocic card.
It will also be interesting to see when newly crowned welterweight champion Belal Muhammad will have his first title defense. Winning his title in July, November, or December would seemingly work, allowing him to begin training in late September or early October.
Weili, Muhammad, Tom Aspinall, Alex Pereira (though, Ankalaev, the No-1 contender will have just fought at UFC 308 in October), Islam Makhachev (injured) and Alexandre Pantoja are the only champions whose next fight isn’t scheduled. An interim title fight at lightweight is a possibility for UFC 309 or 310 between Arman Tsarukyan and Mateusz Gamrot–if he beats Dan Hooker at UFC 305.
However, every one of them would be bumped if McGregor is available to close the year. Stay tuned, as there will be some heavy-duty UFC announcements in the year's final four months.