Don't expect to see Conor McGregor back in the cage until next summer.
The two-division UFC Champion looks to take an extended break after capturing the UFC Lightweight Championship from Eddie Alvarez last Saturday at UFC 205. According to UFC President Dana White, McGregor is expected to be sidelined until the birth of his child in May.
"He won’t fight before May,” White told the LA Times this week.. “His girl gets super stressed out when he fights. He doesn’t want her having any of that stress while she’s pregnant. He’s good. He should take time off. He’s been fighting nonstop. Nothing wrong with him taking time off. It’s good for him and her and it’s good for the baby.”
McGregor leaves with several contenders awaiting their opportunities. Jose Aldo and Max Holloway both want their rematches at 145 pounds, while Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are at the top of the list at lightweight. Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley has been open to a fight as well, but has Stephen Thompson, Demian Maia and Donald Cerrone waiting for their shots. Dana White says McGregor's absence will not define the UFC.
"We’ve done this for 16 years, with a lot of big stars who couldn’t fight or moved on – Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre,” White said. “There’s not a day in this office I don’t get the question, ‘What are we going to do about this guy?’ Every day I turn around, I’ve got a reporter saying we’ve peaked. If I listened to any of that — we probably would be done."
