Conor McGregor’s anticipated return to the UFC appears to be making good progress behind the scenes.
Following President Donald Trump’s announcement last summer, ‘The Notorious’ made it clear he wanted to be part of the event scheduled at the White House later in the year.
Much like Jon Jones, McGregor was open about his desire to feature on the card. However, when the line-up was eventually revealed, neither fighter was included.
The former two-weight champion hinted that the UFC might be holding him back for a different show. This week, there are more signs pointing towards that possibility becoming a reality.
Reporter claims UFC meeting went well, Conor McGregor responds
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani mentioned on Wednesday that McGregor and the UFC had a meeting on Monday.
The Irishman is never one to keep his opinions to himself. He has built a reputation for posting and deleting social media messages whenever something does not sit right with him.
But according to Helwani, there was no such activity following Monday’s meeting, which could be a sign that things went smoothly and that International Fight Week is now in play.
“I think one of Conor’s greatest skills, if you will, was his timing. And I think he has impeccable timing right now because I think that they have seen the backlash of the White House card and the Jon Jones stuff. And who’s sitting right there? Conor McGregor waiting ready to go for July 11 International Fight Week.
“The assumption that I’m going to make is I know when some of these things go haywire or awry, he goes on social media, he tweets a bunch of stuff, he gets upset, he deletes, he airs his grievances. I have not seen any of that since Monday. And I was looking for that because I knew when the meeting was.
“‘I’m not going to be played around. I want my release. I want this, that.’ He has not jumped on this train at all. And so that at least leads me to believe that it was positive and that they are moving in that direction.
“I know that there are some people who still think that he’s not going to fight, but I feel like him not airing any grievances – unless I missed the tweet that was deleted, but I feel like people catch those all the time – is a positive sign of how that meeting went on Monday.”
McGregor’s social media reaction seemed to confirm Helwani’s assertion regarding the outcome of the meeting.
‘The Notorious’ announced his UFC Freedom 250 absence before the card was officially revealed during the UFC 326 broadcast.
The former lightweight and featherweight champion proposed that the promotion should reserve him for an arena event, which would generate a large crowd and substantial gate revenue, rather than using his name to draw interest to the UFC White House card.
International Fight Week is scheduled for 11 July this year and is anticipated to be held in Las Vegas.
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