Conor McGregor, Dana White Offer Contrasting Views on Timeline for Irish Star’s Return

Conor McGregor was in the public eye over the weekend, attending Bellator Champions Series Dublin in support of SBG Ireland teammate Sinead Kavanagh .

That also meant that the Irish star had the opportunity to address the severity of the broken toe that forced him to withdraw from his proposed matchup with Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event. The former two-division champion hasn’t fought since suffering a broken leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.

“The injury is a nuisance. It’s painful,” McGregor told SevereMMA in a backstage interview at Bellator Dublin. “I’m not going to lie, it’s very, very painful. Probably even more painful than the leg, and that’s the truth. And I’ll tell you why, the leg, at least, was wrapped up. I couldn’t access it. The foot is just there still, it’s like it’s exposed. So it’s a bit painful but it comes with the territory.”

McGregor, who wore slippers rather than shoes to the 3Arena, already has a timeline in mind for his return from the broken toe. The “Notorious” also revealed that the treatment he has received for the injury has caused some significant swelling.

“August, September, I’d love [that]. I’m in recovery mode. It’s three weeks to the day, it happened three weeks ago today,” McGregor said. “I’m still here rocking around in the slippers. They’re not bad slippers, thankfully and they’re cozy enough but I can’t get into a shoe yet. They put stem cells in my foot. They came and took it from the back and put it in my foot, 20 mg of stem cells out of my own back, from the bone marrow in and right into the break.

“My f—ing toe is sore and I don’t know if the stem cells into the break was the right move because you know the way chicks put the filler in their face: my f—ing baby toe looks like that. I don’t think it’s the swelling anymore. I think it’s just the stem cells in my toe.”

While McGregor is optimistic about a relatively quick turnaround from the injury, there is some question as to how the UFC’s biggest star will fit into the promotion’s schedule for the remaining summer months. UFC 305 is slated for Perth, Australia, on Aug. 17 and already has a middleweight championship headliner between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya on tap. Meanwhile, the organization appears to have different plans for UFC 306 , which will be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

At the moment, UFC CEO Dana White isn’t willing to speculate about where McGregor might fit in on the itinerary.

“I don’t know right now. Our schedule is laid out. We’ll see,” White said at the UFC on ABC 6 post-fight press conference. “I’m not doing anything until I know that Conor is healthy. It’s not even worth talking about.

“What about September? What about October? He’s not ready. So why even talk about that?”

It’s essentially the same stance White took during a recent interview with the Sports Business Journal. With that in mind, White will consider the possibilities once he knows McGregor is cleared to compete.

“I’m not thinking about Conor fighting anybody right now,” White said. “I have no time frame, I have nothing. McGregor’s not even healed yet. McGregor’s hurt.”