Dana White provides update on Conor McGregor's next fight in 2020

In late 2019, former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor had made his intention of keeping a busy an active Octagon schedule in 2020 pretty clear. He said that his main aim was to work his way back to prime form again and then exact revenge from arch rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, for the beating he took at the hands of the undefeated Russian in the pair's main event clash at UFC 229 back in October 2018.

However, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has left the sports industry in a limbo, with sporting events being postponed and cancelled globally, it seems like the Irishman's plans have reached a screeching halt at this stage.

McGregor promised to compete at least three times in 2020 and post his spectacular TKO victory against Donald Cerrone in January, it frankly wouldn't have been much of a surprise if we got to see 'The Notorious One' competing in quick successions this year, reaching his target of three fights in 2020.

However, as fate would have it, McGregor still awaits his next fight and the scenario of the lightweight division just got more complicated with Nurmagomedov pulling out of UFC 249. Instead of Nurmagomedov, it is now Justin Gaethje who will face Tony Ferguson with an interim title on the line on April 18.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Dana White, the president of the promotion revealed that things might get a bit more dicey for McGregor and he is left with no choice but to play the waiting game as the winner of the Gaethje vs Ferguson fight will likely fight the champion Nurmagomedov in a title unification bout later this year.

“Everybody felt that if Conor was going to get a shot at Khabib that actually Gaethje should get it before Conor. I mean it couldn’t have worked out any better. You get Gaethje vs. Tony. It’s the fight that makes sense. It’s two of the top guys in the world. Khabib is out so the winner will face Khabib.”

White admitted that the ongoing pandemic has thrown a curve ball on a lot of the promotion's plans for the year 2020 and that has affected a lot of fighters, including McGregor whose next Octagon outing remains up in the air as of now.

“This impacts everybody. There’s three fights that have already been postponed, we’re going to work out over the next several weeks and I don’t know where this puts anybody. Conor really wants that rematch with Khabib. Well Khabib and Tony or Gaethje won’t fight now until probably September.”