Dana White announces Conor McGregor UFC return during Jake Paul event

INGLEWOOD, CA — Dana White announced Conor McGregor’s return to the UFC during Jake Paul’s Netflix-MVP fight night on Saturday.

White made the announcement live during the event, setting McGregor’s fight for July 17. The news broke as Francis Ngannou walked out for his bout.

Jake Paul said the timing showed the UFC felt threatened by his promotion. He called White and his team “insecure, little” and accused them of trying to piggyback off his event.

“Oh, the cokehead is back,” Paul told OutKick when asked about White’s motives.

“That’s cool, bro. Drop the McGregor news during our event. It doesn’t matter. That just shows how pressed they are, little insecure boys trying to piggyback off our event and put some news over top of us. It’s not going to work, buddy,” Paul said.

The bad blood between Paul and White is long-standing. Paul has repeatedly criticized the UFC’s fighter pay and trolled White publicly. White has dismissed Paul’s credibility.

Ngannou left the UFC after a contract dispute, and the announcement came as he entered the ring. OutKick reached out to the UFC for comment.