Dana White is pushing back on recent comments from Conor McGregor regarding the upcoming UFC White House card in June 2026.
McGregor has become the king of just sayin’ stuff over the past four years. All of his promised comebacks to the cage never materialized, and a much hyped Irish presidential run ended the moment he was set to step in front of local county councils to seek nomination.
Immediately following his withdrawal from the presidential race, McGregor pivoted to chasing a fight on the big UFC White House event set to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. With McGregor’s star power and connections in Donald Trump’s administration, a fight featuring “The Notorious” seems like a solid card topper. But claims from McGregor that he’s negotiating directly with the U.S. government over the bout and that his participation is a ‘done deal’ are false, according to the UFC’s CEO.
“We’re still talking about the production and how everything’s going to work at the White House,” Dana White said at the UFC 320 post-fight press conference. “We have not started negotiating any fights for the White House yet. That won’t even start till February.”
“I made it clear Conor wants to fight on that card, and you can clearly see Conor is very fired up to fight on that card,” White added. “But nothing is done yet and and no fights are being negotiated with the White House.”
That’s a big walkback from statements McGregor has made recently.
“I’m negotiating with the United States of America on behalf of Ireland for this fight,” the Mac said on September 28th. “So it’s a peculiar one. But Trump and the administration have been fully supportive and backing, and I cannot wait to put on a show.”
“It’s a done deal, signed, delivered,” McGregor told FOX News’ Sean Hannity on October 2nd. “End of negotiations. McGregor will compete in the White House for America’s 250th birthday.”
With McGregor so willing to make the UFC’s big White House card great, what is making the promotion so hesitant to book the Irish sports star? To answer this you have to think like a giant soul-sucking publicly traded entity.
UFC’s parent company TKO has a responsibility to maximize profits and shareholder value. The UFC White House card is already a guaranteed slam dunk set to make the promotion tons of money. Why put an expensive star like McGregor who draws $30 million gates on that when you can have him fight a month later on a separate card and have two mega-events for double the income?
There’s an even more devious answer as to why the UFC has been so reticent to book McGregor comebacks. “The Notorious” has just two more fights on his contract, and has talked of leaving the promotion to make more money elsewhere. Keeping Conor locked into his current contract keeps one of the few stars big enough to affect the fight landscape from helping competitors — or showing just how much more money one can make without the UFC’s 80/20 split hoovering up most of the revenue.
We’ll see how this latest attempt from McGregor to get back in the cage goes, but as it stands a Mac fight at the White House is anything but a ‘done deal.’
