UFC president Dana White has not played down the chance of Conor McGregor fighting for the lightweight title upon his return to the Octagon next year.
The Dubliner has been sidelined since breaking his tibia in his UFC 264 trilogy loss to Dustin Poirier in the summer, Mirror UK reports.
The former two-weight champ has confirmed he's plotting to return to "full MMA sparring" by April and book his next fight as soon as possible after that.
He boldly staked his claim for a shot at current 155-pound titleholder Charles Oliveira following the Brazilian's title defence against his rival Poirier at UFC 269 earlier this month.
"So what date am I fighting Oliveira?" he wrote after the Brazilian's win.
White has confirmed No.1 ranked contender Justin Gaethje is next in line for Oliveira, but he didn't rule out McGregor's chances of a title shot.
"The thing I've been saying about him and I'll always say about him is the guy has plenty of money, but he still is super passionate about fighting," he said of McGregor.
"He's fired up to come back and he's out there doing everything he needs to do to get himself ready to perform again. He's telling me this, and you can see it in all of his [social media] posts and the way he's acting.
"If everything goes right with the healing of his leg, he'll be back this summer. I have no idea what the landscape is going to look like by the time he comes back.
"Dustin Poirier could be retired by the time McGregor comes back. I don't know [if he could fight for the title right away when he comes back]. I won't know the answer until it gets closer."
McGregor has also been linked to a trilogy fight with rival Nate Diaz after the fan favourite's contract was recently extended by the UFC.
And White said they could make the trilogy despite Diaz playing it down until McGregor wins another fight.
"If we didn't want to extend Nate Diaz, we'd wait until the deal was up and that's it. We've had guys fight their contracts out, and Nate might be one of them," he continued.
"This is a tricky thing, because I don't want to sit here and act like Nate Diaz turned this fight down or turned that fight down.
"I don't want to get into all that. I say this to you guys all the time: I'm in the fight business. By contract, I have to offer these guys three fights per year, and they can say yes or no.
"We're working it out. The trilogy with McGregor is always there. That fight could happen. We could make that fight."
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