Dana White doubts Conor McGregor’s UFC return timeline

Conor McGregor remains optimistic about a 2027 comeback, but Dana White believes the former champion faces a long recovery.

Conor McGregor unfortunately won't be fighting for quite some time.

After a rather disappointing comeback at UFC 329, the 38-year-old looks set to be sidelined for longer than expected. The fight was against his longtime rival Max Holloway and lasted only 69 seconds. Conor McGregor sustained a relatively serious knee injury that forced him to stop the fight. It was his first appearance since 2021, when he broke his leg fighting Dustin Poirier.

Since his latest injury, Conor McGregor has stated that he plans to return to the octagon in the summer of 2027. On social media, he shared a video in which he appears to be resuming leg training. However, Dana White doubts that this will change his current prognosis.

“I have no idea, we had him on FaceTime tonight, ringside, but you know, Conor McGregor’s out for a year.”

Dana White said this during an interview when he was asked about the video.

However, Conor McGregor is quite optimistic. Back in 2013, he suffered a torn ACL in his fight against Max Holloway, yet he was back in the octagon just nine months later. That’s why he’s confident that, with modern medicine and improved training methods, he’ll be able to start training again even sooner.

It remains to be seen whether things will actually turn out the way he hopes. But it’s quite likely that we’ll see him in the octagon again.

I'm also not really sure if he'll be back that soon. Knee injuries are always nasty, and I think you should definitely make sure you're 100% recovered first. Still, I'm hoping for the best, of course.