CONOR MCGREGOR’s new UFC return date has seemingly been revealed by an MMA insider.
The Irishman has been gearing up to make his cage comeback on the promotion’s historic White House card on June 14.
McGregor hinted that a return at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue had been sealed earlier this month by claiming he’d accepted both a date and an opponent.
But he appeared to walk back that declaration a few days later by revealing he’s still waiting for the UFC to send him a contract for the bout.
That suggested yet another twist in the tale of the Return of the Mac, who is currently serving an 18-month anti-doping suspension for three whereabouts failures in a calendar year.
And according to veteran MMA reporter Ariel Helwani, The Notorious’ return will now take place in a July joust.
He said: “It doesn’t look like it’s gonna be Conor on the White House card.
“They have an International Fight Week card scheduled for July 11.
“There’s a greater chance of him fighting on that card than on the White House card.
“There’s no money to be made from the White House event.”
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Prior to declaring he’d accepted a date and an opponent for his return, McGregor claimed his UFC contract was “ESSENTIALLY VOID“ due to the UFC’s multi-billion-dollar streaming deal with Paramount+ taking them out of the pay-per-view business.
During a Roblox stream, he said: “I’m going into negotiations with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in February.
“I’m very interested to go. They’ve actually got a new deal with Paramount, it’s worth $7.7 billion.
“And my contract, essentially, is void right now.
“Because there’s no more pay-per-view, whereas my contract was based on pay-per-view sales.
“I’m the highest-generating pay-per-view fighter of all time.
“The pay-per-view system is done, I’m due a new contract.
“So, we’re going into negotiations in February, and I’m very interested to see how it goes.”
McGregor, 37, hasn’t set foot inside the cage since breaking his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier nearly five years ago.
He was supposed to return to action in June 2024 against rival Ultimate Fighter season 31 coach Michael Chandler.
But he withdrew from their Sin City showdown with a broken left pinky toe.
McGregor’s next fight will be his first since he was found liable in civil court of assaulting Nikita Hand at a Dublin hotel in 2018.
The Notorious lost his appeal of the verdict, which was turned in by a jury of his peers at Dublin’s High Court in November 2024.
And the Supreme Court rejected the MMA star’s bid for a further appeal last December.
