Conor McGregor may be planning a return to the Octagon in January, but ‘literally zero’ has been done in terms of organising a fight between him and Donald Cerrone, according to UFC president Dana White.
McGregor announced his plans for three fights in the UFC in 2020, starting with a bout on 18 January, with ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone thought to be the likely opponent.
The Irishman made the announcement with some certainty, but White insists there is absolutely nothing agreed at the moment and Cerrone has not even been contacted.
‘There’s nothing done,’ White told the UFC 244 post-fight press conference. ‘Literally zero.
‘Conor came out and said that. People then said, “Is this true?” And I said, “He wants to fight that date.” But we literally haven’t done [anything].
‘Nobody has called Cerrone. Cerrone actually text me yesterday and said, “I hope all this talk is true.” So there is literally nothing done. Zero.’
While there has been little movement so far, a return to action for the Notorious would be huge business for the UFC and they will be happy to give him his wish to fight in January.
Cowboy is also extremely keen for the contest, and the pay day that comes with it, especially as he is coming off back-to-back losses against Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.
McGregor laid out his plan for the entirety of 2020 at a press conference in Moscow last month, saying: ‘January 18th, the return of the Notorious Conor McGregor, 12 weeks from today at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada. That will be the beginning of my season.
‘I will then look to compete against the winner of the Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal for the Bad Motherf***er title.
‘Obviously I have history with Nate Diaz and we are set to make the trilogy bout. I feel Nate will get the better of that one.
‘Then I will seek the Moscow bout. It will be against the winner of Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
‘I can’t even say the guy’s name, who gives a f*** what the guy’s name is. That is the bout we want. We want the bout in Russia.’
An awful lot will have to fall into place if McGregor is to fight Cerrone, Jorge Masvidal (who beat Diaz on Saturday at UFC 244) and then Nurmagomedov or Ferguson by the end of 2020.
The first of those bouts should be easy enough to produce, and fans will be hoping for an announcement before the end of this month.
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