Dana White has stated Conor McGregor will not be fighting for UFC this year as he reiterates the Irishman is retired.
The Notorious had targeted three fights in 2020 after taking the whole of 2019 off, and it looked like it could be on the cards when he made quick work of Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in his comeback fight back in January at UFC 246.
However, the first ever two-weight UFC champion has decided to take another lengthy hiatus and claims to be done with the sport because "nothing excites" him.
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White is adamant McGregor will not compete inside the Octagon but didn't rule out a return for 2021 given the 32-year-old has pulled this stunt before.
"This year, he is retired," White said on the "My Mom's Basement" podcast, as per ESPN.
"He doesn't have a fight this year, and he won't have a fight this year. Conor McGregor will not fight in 2020. ... I guarantee he will not fight in 2020.
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"I'm not focused on anything with anybody who's not fighting. Conor McGregor is retired. Do we all believe he'll stay retired? I think most of us don't believe he'll remain retired."
In June, McGregor claimed he was retiring from MMA for a third time in four years after becoming "bored" of the current situation in UFC.
He took to Twitter to make the bombshell announcement before explaining his reasons in the same interview with ESPN.
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"The game just does not excite me, and that's that," he said.
"All this waiting around. There's nothing happening. I'm going through opponent options, and there's nothing really there at the minute. There's nothing that's exciting me.
"They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib vs Gaethje] back to September?
"You know what's going to happen in September, something else is going to happen in September, and that's not going to happen. I laid out a plan and a method that was the right move, the right methods to go with.
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"And they always want to baulk at that and not make it happen or just drag it on. Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power. They should have just done the fight -- me and Justin for the interim title -- and just kept the ball rolling."
Although he reckons Khabib vs Gaethje won't happen, and it did get pushed back slightly after the Russian's father unfortunately passed away, the lightweight title bout is now set for October 24 at 254 - and McGregor is already throwing some shade about it all.
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