UFC president Dana White says Conor McGregor is willing to fight again in April vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov in case Tony Ferguson is unable to fight. (1:19)

As the year and the decade come to a close, the UFC is in the midst of perhaps its most successful run ever. And that momentum looks like it will continue in 2020 with Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone headlining UFC 246 on Jan. 18 in Las Vegas.

UFC president Dana White sat down with ESPN's Brett Okamoto recently to discuss the year that was, as well as what the future will hold for the promotion over the next 12 months. In a wide-ranging interview, White addressed topics such as McGregor's future, the potential of a Nick Diaz return, plans for light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and what's ahead for Floyd Mayweather.

Editor's note: Some answers were edited for length and clarity.

What's getting harder as time moves on and the sport keeps developing? What's getting harder as a fight promoter?

Nothing's getting harder. The great thing about our business is as we've gone [up], technology has gone [up], and technology has actually made this a lot easier. I can run a whole show from the office now. There's so many different ways to look at fighters. Back when we bought the company, if I wanted to see some up-and-coming talent, probably had to fly there, go to the fights and watch the fights. Most of these smaller organizations now are on UFC Fight Pass. I can watch all of it on UFC Fight Pass, or it will be on social media, immediately after the fight happens. It's a lot easier to run this business than it was 20 years ago.

Fighter pay is always a topic. I think it probably always will be. It is in every business.

As the sport continues to go [up], so do the numbers. Ask some of these world champions the difference in the last year, and they'll feel it.

Can you give an idea of what a star in the UFC is capable of making these days?

It's crazy money. I think a lot of people would be shocked if you heard what some of these big stars are making. But I don't ever talk about that.

Tell us what's going to happen over the next year, two years, three years. What should we be preparing for in 2020?

You can prepare for what you prepare for every year when we go into a new year. We're going to go into new territories. ... I can sit here right now and lay out the fights for you that we're looking at for 2020, [then] there will be a Diaz-Masvidal that will pop up out of nowhere and be one of the biggest fights of the year. ... You're going to see big things out of UFC Fight Pass in 2020. I will eventually do my boxing, my boxing press conference. It's coming.

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What's been the hold up?

In any business there are always things that you don't see coming. Things that you don't expect that you have to deal with, and I've been dealing with that for the last couple of months. I didn't think it was going to be easy to get into boxing, I knew it was going to be tough. That's why I told everybody I'm kind of sticking my big toe in, I'm not diving in head first. I've got my guy ready, he's chomping at the bit to go. I'm just waiting for the right moment.

Still don't want to reveal who that guy is?

No.

You booked Khabib Nurmagomedov versus Tony Ferguson, a fight I think you once told me you would never book again (because the matchup fell through four times for a variety of reasons).

Here we are, for the fifth one.

You feeling confident?

Tony keeps doing what he's doing. You can't deny Tony this fight, Tony deserves this fight, and hopefully this one happens.

Khabib has said it's the most important fight in UFC history. His father has said the same thing. How would you characterize the significance of a fight between Khabib and Tony?

The way that you can gauge how big and how meaningful a fight really is is through the fans. The fans are going crazy for this fight. The fans want to see this fight, so it's a big one. Very important. A lot of people believe that Tony Ferguson is the guy to beat Khabib, we're going to find out.

A few months before that, you have Conor McGregor coming back and fighting Cowboy at 170 pounds. That surprised a lot of people. Why is this fight at 170 pounds?

Because Conor wants to fight three times this year. He's hoping that if he beats Cowboy, he can turn right around and fight Khabib, but that timing and math isn't going to work out. But you know Conor. Conor thinks the way Conor thinks. His thing is, I'll fight Cowboy, I'll beat Cowboy, and I'll be ready to fight Khabib at 155 if anything happens, because we're going into Khabib-Tony again. So Conor would be ready for that fight.

If the (Nurmagomedov-Ferguson) fight does stay together, the timing might not work out, because Khabib has Ramadan and he wouldn't be available till summer, would Conor be looking at another fight before then?

I don't know. We're getting through this one first. We're getting through the Cowboy fight. And the level of disrespect shown to Cowboy through this whole thing, apparently people forgot .... Cowboy's lost two in a row before and come back and gone on unbelievable runs. So let's not count Cowboy out.