LAS VEGAS -- UFC CEO Dana White has already shot down Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Ronda Rousey as potential participants in the main event of UFC 300, which is set for April 13 at T-Mobile Arena. The card is stacked, and close to finished, but it's still without a main event.
Well, add one more big name to the list of those that White says won't be headlining the epic card.
White made the rounds on radio row at the Super Bowl Experience and by The Pat McAfee Show, where he said he hopes McGregor returns in the fall.
"Hopefully this year," White said to McAfee. "There is no date. I'm hoping for the fall. "Hopefully, we get it done for the fall."
McGregor hasn't fought since injuring his leg in the third round of a July 10, 2021 bout in Las Vegas against Dustin Poirier. There have been no end to the rumors surrounding McGregor's possible return, and McGregor himself tweeted earlier this year he'd be fighting on June 29.
White said that's not true and added next-to-no clarity to the situation other than to say that he hoped McGregor made it back to competition at some point.
This is the card as it stands now:
Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan, five rounds for Zhang's strawweight title.
Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway, five rounds for Gaethje's BMF title.
Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan, three rounds, lightweights, No. 1 contender's bout.
Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic, three rounds, light heavyweights.
Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling, three rounds, featherweights.
Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage, three rounds, middleweights.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt, three rounds, bantamweights.
Holly Holm vs. Kayla Harrison, three rounds, bantamweights.
Sodiq Yosuff vs. Diego Lopez, three rounds, featherweights.
Jessica Andrade vs. Marina Rodriguez, three rounds, strawweights.
Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller, three rounds, lightweights.
That's 11 fights, and it leaves space for at least three more, though more likely is that the card will be either 12 or 13 bouts.
So what fights could be in the main event? Well, two potential middleweight title bouts could make sense. Either a rematch between new champion Dricus Du Plessis and former champion Sean Strickland, or a grudge match between Du Plessis and former champion Israel Adesanya. However, White has said the UFC plans to go to Africa, perhaps as early as this year, and that fight definitely belongs in Africa. They could also do a rematch between Adesanya and Strickland, since Strickland took the title from Adesanya last year, but that wouldn't be a title fight and it seems unlikely they'd top a card this significant with a non-title bout.
If it's not that, they could put a welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad at the top. White hasn't shown much interest in light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira moving up to heavyweight already, but if he could make interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall versus Pereira, that might be the kind of lights out slugfest White would like in the main event of the historic show.
If you look at the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and heavyweight champion Jon Jones are 1-2, but they're injured and out until June at the earliest. No. 3 Alexander Volkanovski defends his featherweight title on Feb. 17 at UFC 298 against Ilia Topuria. Nos. 4 and 5 are Edwards and Perreira, and they are without a fight at this moment.
Oliveira is No. 6 and he's fighting Tsarukyan on the card. Bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley defends against Chito Vera on March 7 in Miami, Fla., at UFC 299. None of the fighters ranked 8 through 11 has a fight yet -- Du Plessis, flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja, Adesanya and Strickland -- and No. 12 Sterling is on the card against Calvin Kattar.
Aspinall is tied for 12th with Sterling and he is without a bout. Holloway is No. 14 and he's facing Gaethje, and ex-welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who is No. 15, is unscheduled at this point.
Stay tuned. They're dragging this one out as long as possible.