Conor McGregor might not be taking a long hiatus from the UFC after all but his return may depend on the new UFC owners sitting down and talking to their biggest cash cow.
Following his stunning second round TKO over Eddie Alvarez in November, McGregor remarked that he was looking to meet with UFC brass about receiving some sort of equity or possible ownership deal after raking in record breaking numbers for the company in his last few fights.
McGregor said he wasn’t going to fight again until he had a chance to meet with the new owners while also awaiting the birth of his first child in May. UFC president Dana White later said he expected McGregor to be out of action for the next 10 months, which means the current lightweight champion wouldn’t return until the second half of 2017.
Now McGregor says that there’s a chance he would come back before that date, but he’s still not signing on for any bout until after he sits down to talk with WME-IMG co-CEO’s Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell to discuss his future.
“As far as a break, I don’t know. I know Dana’s (White) been on record been like 10 months, he’s taking 10 months. What do you say 10 months? Originally I thought the baby was being born in March and then it was May and then I was like maybe I could get another one. But I just don’t know,” McGregor explained when speaking to RTE Sport in Ireland.
“I’m weighing up my options. Again, I expect that conversation, I expect them to fly that jet to me. Ari (Emanuel), Patrick (Whitesell), the new owners from WME-IMG, the guys that bought the UFC for $4 billion, I want to speak to them.”
McGregor says since the UFC sale happened back in July, he still hasn’t sat down and had a legitimate business meeting with the new owners despite headlining two monstrous cards in August against Nate Diaz and again in November for his fight with Alvarez.
Most recently, McGregor says his only contact with the UFC has been through the news he’s received through the media saying he’s been stripped of his featherweight title just 14 days after becoming the first ever simultaneous two division champion.
Of course, White warned McGregor that if he won two belts he would eventually have to give one of them up, but the Irishman sais that’s all he’s heard since making history at UFC 205 and not much else.
So McGregor has a message for the new UFC owners regarding his championships as well as his future with the promotion heading into 2017.
“I want to see what their plan is cause right now I don’t know what anybody’s plan is. All I know is they’re trying to type onto a keyboard and say we’re taking this belt and we’re taking that belt, we’re doing this, we’re doing that — you ain’t doing nothing without contacting me first,” McGregor warned.
“I’m ready for anything. I did say I was going to take a break but a Christmas break, the holidays. At least give me the holidays off. We’ll see what happens in the future.”
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