Dana White Batalkan Rencana Pertandingan Ulang Conor McGregor Akibat Cedera Lutut

CEO UFC Dana White memutuskan untuk menghentikan seluruh pembahasan mengenai jadwal pertarungan masa depan Conor McGregor setelah mantan juara dua divisi tersebut mengalami cedera lutut parah dalam laga kembalinya di ajang UFC 329 melawan Max Holloway.

McGregor menderita cedera pada bagian ACL setelah melakukan tendangan melompat (jumping switch kick) di awal ronde pertama, yang mengakibatkan kekalahan dan memaksanya menjalani operasi serta pemulihan jangka panjang.

Kondisi ini mengacaukan rencana UFC yang sebelumnya berniat menjadwalkan laga terakhir dalam kontrak McGregor pada April 2027, serta mematikan ambisi sang petarung untuk langsung menggelar laga trilogi demi menuntaskan rivalitasnya dengan Holloway.

"I’ve been traveling. Listen, the Conor McGregor thing, Conor McGregor needs knee surgery. He’s going to be out.

He’s going to have to go through physical therapy, and then there will be a point where his doctor says, ‘You’re able to go back and start training hardcore again.’ Until that time, it’s not even worth talking about." kata Dana White kepada MMA Fighting saat ditanya mengenai lini masa kembalinya McGregor.

White menambahkan bahwa ketidakpastian mengenai durasi pemulihan membuat spekulasi mengenai pertandingan berikutnya menjadi tidak relevan untuk saat ini.

"He is absolutely getting knee surgery, and everybody in this sport knows the timeline and how that all plays out. So any Conor McGregor questions or rematch questions don’t even make sense." tegas Dana White.

Pernyataan serupa juga disampaikan oleh White kepada wartawan seusai gelaran UFC Fight Night berikutnya, sebagaimana dilansir oleh ESPN.com.

"His knee's f–ked up," ujar Dana White.

White kembali menekankan bahwa fokus utama saat ini adalah kesehatan fisik sang petarung sebelum UFC dapat merencanakan langkah selanjutnya.

"The Conor McGregor discussion isn't even worth talking about. He's got to have knee surgery, he's going to have to go through physical therapy, it's all going to take time, and then when the doctor says you can start hardcore training again, then we start talking about Conor McGregor again." tutur Dana White.

Dalam wawancara terpisah bersama TMZ Sports, White mengonfirmasi bahwa proses kembalinya petarung berusia 38 tahun tersebut akan berjalan sangat panjang dan melelahkan.

"McGregor has to have knee surgery. Then he's gonna have to go through physical therapy and a doctor's gonna have to give him a sign-off on when he can start training hard again. He's got a lot of things to figure out in his head, in his life, before he starts thinking about boxing or UFC again.

It's gonna be a long comeback for him if he decides that's what he wants to do. He's got a lot of soul-searching [to do], find that fire that he used to have, and we'll see how that plays out." pungkas Dana White.