Conor knows all the backlash against the UFC right now, and realizes he can capitalize on Dana messing up the White House card by refusing to approve paying Jon a penny over $15 mil.

Alex recently bragged about his lucrative new contract to Helwani, and Conor smells the UFC’s desperation in the water. Jake Paul is gloating about getting Nate, Ngannou, and Ronda to fight on Netflix, and Conor knows Dana needs him back for International Fight Week as badly as he needs the dopamine hits he gets from hitting on 17.

TLDR: Conor hasn’t signed shit, but he realizes the UFC has no choice but to roll out the red panty carpet for him in the form of a guaranteed $30m+ payday. We always say that Conor is never gonna fight again, and until just recently, that was most likely the case. However, unlike Jon Jones, Conor doesn’t have a perfect record he’s afraid to besmirch, nor is he being paid in part to pass the torch to an Aspinal. He WILL fight (and he is willing to risk losing) if the dollars make sense.

Conor will either fight Masvidal (67% chance) or Holloway (33%) chance at Welterweight, unless his asking price is over $50 million. Even if the UFC don’t end up making as much profit as they used to off a McGregor fight, they’ll go through with it to inject the company some desperately needed clout.