UFC president Dana White believes that Conor McGregor will make a return to the Octagon after the Irishman’s retirement last month.

He also claimed that a fight between McGregor and Jorge Masvidal could go down as the biggest in UFC history - despite Masvidal losing to Kamaru Usman on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s fight, White said of McGregor: “I wouldn’t be surprised if he came out and wanted to fight somebody next year after all these different fights play out."

White said at a press event on Saturday that a fight between Masvidal and McGregor “could be” the biggest in UFC history, even surpassing the Irishman’s loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in 2018.

White said of the Masvidal vs Usman fight: “This thing is trending off the charts. This thing is trending higher than a Conor McGregor fight.

“The only thing this fight is comparable to is Conor-Khabib."

On Saturday, Usman beat McGregor’s potential comeback rival Masvidal on Abu Dhabi’s ‘Fight Island’ with a unanimous decision victory at UFC 251.

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Masvidal was drafted at six days’ notice to replace Gilbert Burns, who was forced to withdraw from fighting Usman after testing positive for COVID-19.

Masvidal did not appear to be in shape to challenge the current welterweight champion, falling to defeat after five rounds in the ‘Octagon in the sands’.

The ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ Usman, 33, earned scores of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46 from the three judges, taking his UFC record to 17-1-0.

Thirty-one-year-old McGregor announced his retirement from UFC in June 2020, saying that he is “bored” of UFC and was unwilling to take part in “stupid fights”.

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His last UFC fight came in January when he secured his first win in three years against Donald Cerrone.

That win gave ‘The Notorious’ an overall UFC record of 22-4.

Though White claimed that Saturday’s fight challenged McGregor’s biggest events, it’s hard to deny that ‘The Notorious’ brings another level of excitement to the sport, making his return something UFC fans would surely relish.