The UFC just packed up and left Long Island, but it looks like the octagon will be back in New York before long. 

UFC president Dana White, speaking with reporters following the conclusion of Saturday’s first event in Nassau County in five years, indicated plans are to return for a Madison Square Garden show in the fall. 

“Hopefully, we’re coming back to MSG in November,” White said at UBS Arena. 

While White’s words weren’t a commitment, it’s a safe bet the UFC will invade the Garden in one of the first two weekends in November. The promotion has held an annual event at the arena since professional mixed martial arts became fully sanctioned in New York — the final state to do so — in early 2016. Only the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the schedule of fights in the city as UFC limited its shows to its UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas and in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — branded at the time as Fight Island. 

The UFC has operated its Garden events as a premium night on the UFC schedule. The 2016 debut saw mercurial star Conor McGregor add the lightweight title to go with his featherweight crown. A year later, legend Georges St-Pierre came out of retirement to claim the middleweight belt. 

A pair of championship bouts between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington (welterweight) and Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili (strawweight) topped the billing, plus a fight-of-the-year-caliber lightweight scrap between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler that lived up to the hype. 

The exact date for this year’s event is unclear, although Combate in Brazil cited sources linked to the company pinning the date down as Nov. 12. Also unclear at this stage is which bouts the promotion would look to schedule.