Dana White has raised doubts over Conor McGregor's UFC future by admitting it is 'hard to reel' these types of stars back into the Octagon.
The Notorious is undoubtedly the biggest star the UFC has ever produced and years on from his World Championship success remains a huge draw for the promotion.
Since becoming a two-weight UFC champion back in 2016, McGregor has fought just four times under the UFC banner. His most recent bout came in 2021, when he suffered a catastrophic leg injury in a second successive defeat to Dustin Poirier.
READ MORE: Conor McGregor's staggering net worth revealed as UFC star closes in on billionaire status
After two years of rehabilitation, McGregor is back in the UFC spotlight and is a coach on the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter reality show opposite MMA veteran Michael Chandler.
McGregor is due to fight Chandler later this year, and while the fight has been announced by the UFC, no date, venue or weight-class has been revealed.
Adding a further wrinkle of intrigue to the situation is McGregor's drug-testing status. In order to be cleared to fight in the UFC, athletes must submit six months of clean tests to anti-doping agency USADA.
McGregor withdrew from the testing pool some time ago and has yet to return. This means that he would only be able to fight at the back-end of this year at the earliest.
The 34-year-old has rubbished claims that he needs to provide six months worth of clean tests, and has hinted that the issue is much less complicated.
Despite this, the fight has yet to be confirmed and UFC President Dana White has raised eyebrows with his recent comments on McGregor, when he suggested it was difficult to get mega stars like the Irishman into the cage.
White said: “First of all, Conor called me a couple days ago and loved the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter, and saying how happy he was to be a part of it.
“And I think being here and part of the environment and everything else, he felt it again and felt like he wants to get back to fight.
"The one thing you guys have to understand is this kid has so much money. It’s like Khabib now.
"These guys got s***loads of money and it’s hard to reel these guys in and get them to get in and fight."
When asked about a future without McGregor, White wasn't worried about that prospect.
He said: “I never get concerned.
"We have a massive roster of people that want to come in and people that are ready to fight and people that want to be Conor McGregor.
"And be at that level. It’s like for the last 20 years everybody said, ‘Oh my God, what are you guys going to do when Chuck Liddell retires? You guys are f****d. Oh my God. GSP. Anderson Silva. This and that.’
"This is a professional sport. People come in here, they achieve great things and they retire. You can never worry about that type of stuff.
"It is what it is. It’s part of the game. And it’s my job and my team’s job to find new talent and build them.”
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