Dana White says Conor McGregor's next opponent will not be decided until he is ready to fight again

Conor McGregor will not get an opponent for his UFC return until he is actually ready to fight again.

That's according to UFC CEO Dana White, who was answering a question about whether either Michael Chandler or Charles Oliveira would potentially compete for that fight when they meet at UFC 309 in November. Chandler was originally set to welcome McGregor to the Octagon, but constant delays and the cancellation of their fight at UFC 303 in June ultimately led to him booking a rematch against Oliveira instead.

As for McGregor's list of possible opponents, White remains non-committal.

“It will [be] “It will be determined who the opponent is when Conor comes back,” White said on Thursday during a question and answer session with fans in Ireland. “Whenever Conor is ready and comes back.”

“He called me last night when he heard I was here [in Dublin]. He's in New York right now, training.”

In other words, McGregor's opponent will not be known until the date of his return is actually set.

That's a far cry from the last 18 months, when McGregor faced Chandler after they agreed to pit The Ultimate Fighter against each other before agreeing on an eventual fight.

Unfortunately, problems continued to arise that prevented McGregor from competing – including six months of drug testing required after he dropped out of the UFC's anti-doping program while recovering from a broken leg sustained in his 2021 fight against Dustin Poirier.

McGregor was supposed to face Chandler in June, but the Irish superstar suffered a fracture in his little toe and was forced to pull out of UFC 303.

There were rumors that McGregor might return before the end of the year, but White ultimately revealed that the former two-division UFC champion would not return until sometime in 2025.

This led to Chandler deciding to book his fight against Oliveira in November rather than continue to sit on the sidelines waiting for a showdown with McGregor that may never happen.

Now it looks like McGregor will have to commit to a date before the UFC assigns him an opponent for his first fight in nearly four years.