Conor McGregor vs Donald Cerrone a done deal? Dana White shuts down Joe Rogan claim
CONOR MCGREGOR’s proposed fight with Donald Cerrone isn’t anywhere close to coming to fruition, UFC president Dana White has insisted.
Cerrone began campaigning for a fight with Conor McGregor after his second-round TKO victory over Alexander Hernandez in January.
McGregor accepted the ‘Cowboy’s’ callout, tweeting: “For a fight like that Donald, I’ll fight you. Congratulations.”
McGregor vs Cerrone talk quickly died down, but it came back to the fore this past weekend courtesy of UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
During the latest Fight Companion instalment of his Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, Rogan suggested both McGregor and Cerrone have signed contracts to fight one another.
“I think it’s going to be Conor and ‘Cowboy’ [next]," he said when asked by Eddie Bravo ‘what’s the problem’ with a fight between McGregor and former interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson.
“Conor-Cowboy is a done deal, as far as I know.
“As far as I know, yeah.”
Rogan’s comments were put to White during an interview with TMZ, in which he fiercely denied any agreement for the pair to face one another being in place.
Not true. It’s not even close to being done.
“Not true,” White said. “It’s not even close to being done.”
White may have denied a deal to see the two fan favourites face one another being done, but he’s more than open to booking the fight.
“I’d like to see Conor fight this Summer, those two want to fight each other; they’ve both earned it,” White told MMAjunkie after the UFC 234 pre-fight press conference in Australia. “Cowboy’s fought anybody we’ve ever put against him.
“We throw this young killer Hernandez at him, Cowboy’s the underdog and he goes in and does it the way he did it, then Conor’s fought everybody. If these two want to fight, I’m down.”
Before McGregor can fight Cerrone, or anybody for that matter, he must first finish serving the six-month suspension he received for his actions after his UFC 229 loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor was handed the punishment in January, as well as a £38,000 ($50,000) fine.
His period of ineligibility began on October 6, which means he’ll be free to return to the cage on from April 6 onwards.
Coincidentally, UFC 236 takes place the week after ‘The Notorious’ is eligible to fight, though a location for the third pay-per-view card of the year has not yet been announced.