CONOR MCGREGOR has vowed not to return to the UFC until he holds crunch talks with the promotion’s top dog.
The Notorious is gearing up to end his near FIVE-YEAR octagon hiatus on the promotion’s White House card on June 14.
But the Irishman threw a spanner into the works last month by claiming his contract is “ESSENTIALLY VOID” in the new Paramount broadcasting era.
And now, he’s seemingly refused to fight for the promotion again until he speaks to TKO Group Executive Chairman Ari Emanuel about his deal.
In a since-deleted X comment in response to a post about Emanuel’s upcoming memoir, he wrote: “That’s a must-read!
“I won’t come back until me and Ari chat.”
It’s unclear if McGregor has spoken to the UFC brass after publicly declaring his contract “void” due to the promotion no longer being in the pay-per-view business.
During a Roblox live 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.
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“So the company has 4xed its profit, 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 hasn’t set foot inside the octagon since breaking his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
He was set to return to action in June 2024 against Michael Chandler but withdrew from their Sin City showdown with a broken left pinky toe.
McGregor is currently serving an 18-month ban for violating the UFC’s anti-doping policy with three whereabouts failures.
Combat Sports Anti-Doping, who over see the UFC’s anti-doping program, were initially set to give him a TWO-YEAR ban.
“I won’t come back until me and Ari chat.”
Conor McGregor
But his cooperation with the investigation and the circumstances surrounding his injury saw them reduce his period of ineligibility to 18 months.
McGregor, 37, will be officially eligible to compete again from March 20 onwards.
If the Dubliner ever fights again, his next outing will be his first since he was found civilly liable for assaulting Nikita Hand at a Dublin hotel in 2018.
McGregor lost his appeal of the verdict, which was turned in by a jury of his peers at Dublin’s High Court in November 2024.
The Supreme Court rejected the MMA star’s bid for a further appeal last December.
