Dana White denies Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz rumour, but there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful

Dana White has some bad news for anyone who fell for those bullshit Conor McGregor III reports.

A tripe report from the Sunday World claiming that the highly-anticipated trilogy match between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was on the verge of being signed has been deemed to be bollocks by UFC president Dana White. The rumour was carelessly picked up and recklessly passed around like a bottle of Ouzo at an after party, with only the more refined palates opting not to get intoxicated off the foolish fun. It seemed as though the novelty of crediting 'reports from Ireland' for breaking McGregor fight news was too much of an opportunity for some publications to pass up and the story gained way more traction than it deserved. Although, just because that report has been completely shot down doesn't mean the fight's not happening. https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/912100972234653697 Before McGregor stepped inside the ring to box Floyd Mayweather, he was heavily linked with completing the trilogy against the Stockton native. Diaz showing up at 'the Money Fight' only strengthened the rumblings that they were targeting UFC 219 on December 30 as the location for the potential PPV record-smasher. MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani confirmed on Twitter that the end of year show is still the plan, although the deal is far from being done. Any report claiming otherwise is just premature. https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/912160753813217280 At this rate, UFC 219 might be too ambitious of a turnaround. With each passing week, the voices claiming it will happen in early 2018 are getting louder. Interestingly, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee are scheduled to fight for the interim lightweight strap while Georges St-Pierre will come out of retirement to fight for the middleweight crown well before Auld Lang Syne gets belted out around the globe. These fights could present some fascinating (and very lucrative) alternatives for McGregor should negotiations on the trilogy fall through.