Conor McGregor: Dana White lifts lid on failed return talks before Mac drops comeback hint

Conor McGregor was supposed to meet White in Miami last week to discuss his future with the promotion, which is currently up in the air.

Last month, the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion shocked the sporting world by announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts.

The Irishman has seemingly pulled a U-turn on his second hanging up of the gloves – which many believe was a ploy for him to be given equity in the UFC – though he’s yet to fully confirm he is indeed an active fighter.

McGregor’s eagerness to be given shares in the UFC – which he first made known nearly three years ago – was expected to the main subject of his face-to-face meeting with White.

However, the pair’s showdown talks didn’t end up taking place and they’ll now meet in Los Angeles in the near future.

“I was supposed to meet with him down here,” White said of Conor McGregor during the UFC Fight Night 150 post-fight press conference.

“We’re going to meet in LA instead.”

White’s revealing of his failed meeting with McGregor came a little less than 24 hours before ’The Notorious’ suggested he will set foot inside the Octagon again.

“I hear you, but I love it dearly,” McGregor said in response to a fan tweeting that he’d ‘love to see him fight again.’

“If I am being honest with myself I don’t think I will ever be able to fully walk away from fighting.

“We are all fighters in this world and each of us will be fighting for the rest of our time here.”

McGregor, 30, hasn’t fought since his UFC 229 defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov, his successor at the summit of the lightweight division.

Mystic Mac’s head coach John Kavanagh is confident we haven’t seen the last of Ireland’s first UFC champion and believes he could return to action in the summer.

During a recent appearance on the Late Late Show in Ireland, Kavanagh said: “I think there has been a resurgence in his passion and his lov.

“And I think if the right contest comes along, something that’s very interesting to him, a good challenge, something that will get the crowd going.

“I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t fight again…as soon as…it could be even the summer.”

White shares that belief, recently telling CNN: “Conor McGregor will fight again.

“Me and Conor communicate every day. We’ve been talking all this week.

“Things are good with Conor and I and we’ll get something figured out soon.

“Conor likes to be in a position where he holds the cards and he does what he wants to do. And, you know, he and I figure out how to work together and how to make it all happen.