Dana White Nixes Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone Reports

When Donald Cerrone scored a record-setting submission over Mike Perry at last week’s UFC Denver, he promised a return to lightweight. A few days after that, talk of Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone was soon floating about MMA’s most prominent headlines.

Much of the discussion was started by ‘Cowboy,’ who teased the bout on his Instagram. There was so much smoke that betting odds broke with McGregor a small favorite.

However, there’s the little issue of McGregor’s NSAC suspension along with Khabib Nurmagomedov. The two superstars are temporarily suspended for their post-fight brawl at UFC 229. They’re set to appear before the NSAC to find out their punishment. UFC president Dana White was asked when the hearing was by TMZ Sports recently. He offered an update:

“December. So those guys go before the Nevada State Athletic Commission in December and then we’ll know what’s up.”

Not Right Now

That’s not good news for a potential fight against Cerrone or anyone else getting booked, however. White said the UFC couldn’t even begin to entertain possible fights without knowing how long they’d be out:

“We’re not even thinking about it. It’s not even worth talking about because we don’t know how long the suspensions are going to be, what their fines are going to be. We don’t know the penalties yet, so you can’t even think about fights until we know what the penalties are.”

With talk of McGregor vs. Cerrone one of the most-discussed topics of a relatively slow week, White got to the point. He shut down the potentially exciting match-up rather quickly. He knows Cerrone wants the fight.

But White reiterated they just aren’t making any bouts for McGregor as of right now:

“That’s not true. Absolutely not true. Obviously that’s the fight that “Cowboy” Cerrone wants but that’s not true. We haven’t even thought about an opponent for either one of those guys yet, meaning Khabib or Conor.”