Conor McGregor wanted to make his return on the UFC White House card, but International Fight Week is where the Irishman would likely come back. At least that’s what he claimed to have negotiated with Dana White & Co. However, one guy who was in discussion to fight McGregor at the historic event revealed details that hint the Irishman may not have been entirely honest with us.

“It was discussed, but he’s the one who makes the decisions,” said Mauricio Ruffy on the Overdogs Brazil podcast with Glover Teixeira. “And he made the decision not to fight. I also didn’t have high expectations about it.”

Known for his elite striking that resembles McGregor’s signature karate-capoeira style, he has finished three out of his five UFC opponents via knockouts. And Ruffy was reportedly in talks to fight Conor McGregor. As such, after finishing now #10-ranked lightweight Rafael Fiziev at UFC 325, the Brazilian called out McGregor.

However, according to Ruffy, ‘The Notorious’ backed out of the historic event. Now, this development makes the tale quite interesting. During an appearance on the Smash Cast podcast, McGregor noted how Dana White & Co. decided not to put him on the UFC White House card. But Ruffy clearly contradicted that statement by accusing how it was McGregor’s decision not to fight him on that card.

Amid these developments, the UFC matchmaking led by Hunter Campbell decided to put Michael Chandler against ‘One Shot’ for the historic event on June 14. Apart from that, Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje will headline the UFC White House card in a lightweight title unification bout, with Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane as co-main for the interim heavyweight title.

But according to McGregor, the plan was for him to fight Chandler on June 14, before the UFC changed their mind and replaced him with Ruffy. Here is where it gets tricky. McGregor claims he accepted the fight date regardless of who he was fighting. Ariel Helwani confirmed it, too.

The veteran analyst reported that McGregor verbally accepted a bout against Carlos Prates, whose name was also in the mix. Prates claimed McGregor ducked him but Helwani’s sources told him otherwise. It is the UFC that keep pulling the mat from under ‘The Mac.’ And Conor knows why.

He talked on the Smash Cast show about how he’s never on the marquee cards, but always on the follow-up cards after the big ones. The reason? Money. McGregor mints money for the UFC like no one else. Why waste him on a card that sells on its historic significance alone, when you can put him on a regular event and sell tickets at premium prices? With the UFC expecting no profit while spending $60M on the White House event, a McGregor-led International Fight Week will be where they look for some serious cash flow.

‘The Notorious’ has been out of competition since his bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in June 2021, where McGregor lost the fight after suffering a broken tibia and fibula. While he has recovered from the injury, his return has been reportedly pushed back for the International Fight Week, which will go down on July 11.

While the White House Card celebrates America’s 250th year of Independence, which coincides with Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, Ariel Helwani reported that the UFC did not plan to book the Irishman on the card.

Along with the Irishman, Islam Makhachev’s return is also speculated to happen on the same event. To that end, Makhachev would reportedly be making his first title defense against Michael Morales.

But when it comes to ‘The Notorious’, who will he fight next? Because his best big-name opponent just practically erased all chance of their clashing in the Octagon.

Who will Conor McGregor fight at International Fight Week?

The revelations surrounding Conor McGregor‘s UFC White House fight have been quite confusing. There were many bouts linked up. But according to McGregor, it was a “no-name” opponent. That could have been either Ruffy or Prates. But then things took a different turn.

For International Fight Week, former foe Nate Diaz’s name began making the rounds on the internet. The pair are yet to meet in a trilogy after going 1-1 in 2016. With both of them in their late thirties, this fight would have been more evenly matched than McGregor taking on the young guns from the Fighting Nerds team.

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However, Diaz announced his MMA return yesterday against Mike Perry on the Rousey vs. Carano MVP card on Netflix. This rules out any chances of him fighting McGregor in July this year. And that brings to the UFC 326 main event.

McGregor had one eye on the BMF title fight between Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway because he felt he might get the winner in July in Vegas. Both Diaz and McGregor took shots at Oliveira for his grappling-heavy performance in the BMF fight, and he fired back in kind. So, the groundwork is already laid for a McGregor vs. Oliveira fight.

Besides, McGregor was planning to fight Oliveira back in 2021 for the undisputed UFC title the Brazilian held at the time. He wore a Brazilian flag-themed mouth guard to the Poirier trilogy to call out Oliveira if he won, but ended up breaking his leg instead. Could it be that we get the fight five years after that fateful night?