Dan Hooker believes UFC won't give in to Conor McGregor's demands of an immediate title shot on Octagon return

The UFC has intimated to former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor that should he come out of retirement, his demands for an immediate title fight will not be accepted by the promotion.

Conor McGregor recently announced what was his third retirement in the past four years and then revealed that his decision came from the frustration of not being able to agree to a deal with the promotion regarding his next fight. The Irishman had initially planned to fight thrice in 2020 but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic ruined his plans.

Conor McGregor was then irate with the UFC when they denied him a fight against interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje, who will now fight Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title-unification bout in September.

Dan Hooker believes the UFC will prioritize active lightweights over Conor McGregor

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker, who recently lost to Dustin Poirier in a contender for the fight of the year at the recently concluded UFC on ESPN 12, believes that Dana White will keep his word of prioritizing his active fighters instead of those fighters who have retired or aren't interested in fighting currently by not handing an immediate title fight to Conor McGregor if the Irishman decides to return to the octagon.

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Hooker said, “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, and it doesn’t make lot of sense with what we’re seeing now with the UFC kind of standing their ground with a lot of these big-named guys who want to kind of call the shots, and the UFC’s jumping back in and saying we’re the ones running the show. So I don’t think that benefits Conor very well, if he’s going to try to position himself for a title shot when compared to me."

Dan Hooker backed up on his logic with the example of the welterweight division where Jorge Masvidal was next in line to fight kamaru Usman for the title but since Masvidal didn't agree with the payday he was being offered and the negotiations hit a roadblock, the UFC decided to give the title shot to Gilbert Burns instead because the latter wants to fight.

“You’re seeing it now with Gilbert Burns - Usman fight. Jorge Masvidal was obviously the clear frontrunner for that title shot, but contract negotiations turned south and the UFC gave it to the guy who wants to fight.”