UFC president Dana White has said that Conor McGregor should wait for the Khabib Nurmagomedov-Justin Gaethje match later this year and then look to challenge the victor.
Newly crowned interim lightweight champion Gaethje set up a unification clash with Khabib after giving possibly the best performance of his career at UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida, when he defeated Tony Ferguson by TKO in the fifth round.
McGregor, meanwhile, appeared to have agreed to face legend Anderson Silva through a post on Twitter, even as Gaethje said McGregor is "losing his clout" among fighters within the UFC.
However, White said the right move would be to wait for the main lightweight title fight.
"The best thing for him – I'm not saying this is gonna happen – but in my opinion he lets this Gaethje vs Khabib fight play out then he fights the winner," White said on Eddie Hearn and Tony Bellew's Talk the Talk show.
“I think that's the smartest move for him. But you know him. Maybe he wants to fight before that, and if he does, maybe we can figure something out. But I think that’s the move for him right now.”
White said the pay-per-view draw of McGregor can never be discounted.
“These guys that become such big stars become partners in selling the pay-per-views ... from the Chuck Liddells to the Anderson Silvas, the Georges St-Pierres, the Jon Jones, the Ronda Rouseys, they all bring something different,” White said.
“The difference between all of them and McGregor is that he took us global. He opened up territories that were really not that interested before. He’s the first guy that truly was a global star."
McGregor most recently registered a 40-second victory against Donald Cerrone in January and had caused a storm on social media by saying he will go down as the greatest fighter in mixed martial arts history.
