Conor McGregor retirement: UFC President Dana White does not expect The Notorious to retire

White is open to the Irishman returning for UFC 200

Lorenzo Fertitta (centre) alongside UFC president Dana White (Getty Images)

The story of UFC 200 and Conor McGregor continues to develop with the latest being that president Dana White doesn't expect McGregor to retire - and that he is open to putting the Irishman back on UFC 200.

The latest twist in the tale comes following White's (above, right) appearance on Colin Cowherd’s sports talk show 'The Herd' on Wednesday, where he discussed the latest breaking news surrounding the UFC’s biggest event and its biggest superstar.

On Tuesday, the featherweight champion sent the MMA world into a frenzy after a Tweet suggesting that he would be retiring early.

Shortly after that message, White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter to deliver a massive message which stated McGregor was being pulled off UFC 200 for refusing to fulfill media obligations. A day later, the UFC boss was a guest on Cowherd’s show to address the issues at hand.

White began the interview by saying that there was no strain in the relationship between McGregor and the UFC and totally dispelled the notion that the entire situation had taken place due to money issues.

He stated that McGregor simply didn’t want to do the media tour which was planned to take place in Las Vegas, Stockton, and New York.

"I’m not asking Conor to do something that other fighters aren’t doing," said White.

Colin Cowherd then asked White directly if he believes that Conor is retiring, to which he simply replied: "I do not."

With the announcement of McGregor being pulled from the biggest card in UFC history, Cowherd then went on to ask White if there was any possibility of Conor McGregor being added back on to the UFC 200 card.

"Yeah, if he called me after this interview we would probably still do it," said White.

He then briefly expanded on why they did he pull him from event stating: "We give Conor a lot of leeway because Conor delivers.

"Conor delivers, but he wasn’t planning on delivering this weekend, and I had to pull him. It’s what had to be done."

The McGregor camp is still remaining quiet and has not issued any further statement to the social media posts they published on Tuesday.

The issue is constantly developing but with ticket sales for UFC 200 starting next week, a resolution will have to be met sooner rather than later. Nate Diaz is expected to have flown into Las Vegas last evening to discuss alternative fights for the 9 July card.