White sets Sunday deadline to work out McGregor side of Mayweather deal

UFC president Dana White is close to washing his hands clean of the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather saga.

On Thursday, White told Jim Rome of CBS Sports that if he can't come to an agreement with McGregor by Sunday on the terms of a long-discussed crossover bout with Mayweather, then that might signal the end of his attempts to make the fight happen.

"I plan on having this thing locked up by this Sunday and then moving on to Team Mayweather and start to negotiate with them," said White. "If we really do get it done in that time frame, then this thing could possibly happen.

"But again, I still need to go negotiate with them. There's no guarantee that we're going to come to a deal."

Asked if he was ready to give up on the fight should the McGregor side of the deal fall through, White said "Correct."

White recently appeared on "The Herd," where he mentioned the possibility of removing himself from the Mayweather-McGregor talks due to the logistics involved in getting all of the parties on the same page. Neither fighter is expected to accept less than a high eight-figure payday, and the UFC and Mayweather's associates at Showtime must also be considered.

Should White withdraw from the negotiations, it doesn't preclude Mayweather and McGregor working out a deal on their own. McGregor recently acquired a boxing license in California and he is eligible to apply for one in Nevada after resolving his issues with the state's athletic commission regarding his involvement in an August 2016 presser melee.

McGregor's status as a licensed professional boxer could put him under the jurisdiction of the Muhammad Ali Act, which would theoretically allow him to negotiate a boxing match outside of his current contract with the UFC.