Conor McGregor\'s UFC comeback has been pencilled in for summer\, and he might even fight twice this year

• Conor McGregor will return to UFC in the summer, according to his boss Dana White.
• White said on Friday that the Irishman will likely return against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone as he is "down" to make that bout official.
• But he has previously said he wants to book a rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov later in the year.
• This means McGregor could fight twice in 2019.

Conor McGregor will likely return to the UFC in the summer against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, according to his boss Dana White.

McGregor is currently banned from fighting after the Nevada Athletic State Commission (NSAC) gave him a six-month backdated ban for the role he played in the post-fight brawls that marred his UFC 229 loss to Nurmagomedov.

After Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor with a tight neck crank in the fourth round of a wild bout in October 2018, he refused to celebrate and instead leaped over the fence to charge at McGregor's cage-side friend Dillon Danis. While that was going on, members of Nurmagomedov's team were seen invading the Octagon and exchanging punches with McGregor.

The NSAC gave both athletes suspensions for the parts they played in the incident at a recent disciplinary hearing and though Nurmagomedov is banned for longer, McGregor is free to fight from April 7 onwards.

Speaking after a UFC press conference in Australia on Friday, White told MMAJunkie.com that he sees a summer return in McGregor's future - and his comeback bout will likely be against Cerrone.

White said he would "like to see Conor fight this summer" before adding that he would be "down" for Cerrone, the most winningest fighter in UFC history, to be the opponent.

"Those two want to fight each other, they've both earned it," said White. "Cowboy's fought anybody we've ever put against him. We throw this young killer [Alexander] Hernandez at him, Cowboy's the underdog and he goes in and does it the way he did it… then Conor's fought everybody.

"If these two want to fight, I'm down," he said.

It could be the first of two fights McGregor has in 2019

The UFC already has a summer pay-per-view show scheduled but it does not yet have a venue, city, or main event - UFC 238 on June 8.

White gave no indication when in the summer he would like McGregor and Cerrone to fight, but the fight could headline that show.

It could also be the first of two shows McGregor headlines this year because White also wants the Irishman to rematch Nurmagomedov later in 2019.