Dana White Confirms Conor McGregor Will Fight for the Title Ahead of Justin Gaethje

UFC 246 features a welterweight bout between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone. This fight will mark the return of McGregor to the sport since his loss to the lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, not so long ago McGregor was adamant to get the rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Hence it does seem a little confusing why would he move up to fight Cowboy.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Dana White made things clear. He explained that McGregor would fight for the title in April 2020 Khabib or Tony gets injured. Looking at the history of Khabib vs Tony, it can be said that fans are little concerned whether this fight will come into fruition the fifth time. 

Related: A timeline of every Khabib vs Tony fights

“You know Conor. Conor thinks the way Conor thinks. So his thing is I will fight Cowboy, I will beat Cowboy, and I will be ready to fight Khabib if anything happens.” explained White.

Related: Conor McGregor wants Khabib Rematch more than the Masvidal fight

However, if Khabib vs Tony stays together then it will be difficult for McGregor to get the rematch against Nurmagomedov before the next summer. Even if Conor gets past Cerrone at UFC 246, Justin Gaethje is witing for his title after three first-round knockout wins. If you look at the resumes of both Conor and Gaethje in the last few years, Gaethje should be the one getting the title shot ahead of Conor. However, Dana White disagrees with that. Addressing that, White said:

“Look what Conor has done over the last however many years. And he loses to Khabib. In a fight, when you talk about bad blood it’s the next level of bad blood. Gaethje was on his way up too. We have offered Gaethje a lot of fights that Gaethje has not taken either So Conor is in line next if he beats Cowboy.”

Sure Conor vs Khabib rematch would be good for business and for everything McGregor has done for the organization he does deserve a title match. However, fans would love to see the McGregor who went through the entire featherweight division during his rise in UFC in his early days. The controversies surrounding McGregor outside the octagon has made his fans question whether Conor is passionate about competing anymore. Well, all the questions will be answered on UFC 246 when Conor faces Cowboy in the main event.