Dana White Still Uncertain Whether Conor McGregor Will Return to the UFC

The biggest questions facing the MMA world right now all revolve around Conor McGregor. Who will he fight? Where will it take place? When will it be?  

Not even UFC President Dana White knows the answers to those questions, and judging from a press event Tuesday, we're not going to find out anytime soon.

According to multiple outlets on hand, including Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole and MMAFighting, White indicated that he is if McGregor will even compete again:

Despite achieving unparalleled success in the UFC in 2016—capturing two UFC titles and breaking the UFC pay-per-view buyrate record on multiple occasions—McGregor made a high-profile jump to boxing in 2017, facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in one of the biggest fights of all time.

While he was already one of the wealthiest mixed martial artists of all time, that bout with Mayweather likely exceeded anything he had made in the Octagon by a considerable margin. What's more, despite losing, McGregor's star possibly grew even larger from the fight and maybe giving him even more leverage when negotiating fights with the UFC.

Though White is seemingly pessimistic regarding McGregor's future, fans of the lightweight champ shouldn't be overly worried about him suddenly retiring.

As recently as earlier this month, when discussing his next move with reporters, McGregor stated that he was looking for the UFC to "entice" him with something along the lines of co-promotion or an ownership stake in the UFC and didn't even hint that he was hanging up his gloves. In all likelihood, White casting doubt on his future is a public negotiation tactic, something White has done on many occasions over his years.

Unfortunately, while McGregor's time as a competitor likely isn't over, this does indicate that negotiations between the two sides are not close to coming to terms. Unless things take a sharp turn, don't expect McGregor back in the cage at any point in the near future.