McGregor Says He Will Fight This Year
Conor McGregor will fight this year after confirming positive talks with Dana White.
The Irishman has not had a UFC fight since losing to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021. McGregor broke his leg as he suffered his third loss in four UFC fights. McGregor was set for his UFC comeback on June 29 at UFC 303. The live gate set a new record of over $20 million. The tickets for the press conference were also gone in nine minutes. However, McGregor pulled out with a toe injury, much to the fans’ disappointment.
Conor is hopeful of returning by September. That could be in line for a huge fight at The Sphere in Las Vegas at UFC 306. Dana White first suggested that was unlikely to happen. But now, it seems there has been a change of plan.
McGregor Reacts
And yet, Chandler is also exploring other options. He revealed he was offered a title fight against Islam Makhachev. The latter holds the lightweight title, which he defended after beating Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. A win over Islam allows for a much bigger McGregor fight. However, a loss may reduce the demand for McGregor. Chandler also called out Porier for a fight and riled him up after suggesting The Diamond should retire. That leaves McGregor in a precarious position. UFC commentator Jon Anik, however, hopes to see him fight again.
“I’ve got to stay consistent in terms of my thesis statement on Conor: Tt’s that he’s going to enjoy the yacht life a whole lot more with a couple more MMA (wins), or at the very least fights – high-profile fights and the mixed martial artists in there.
“The professional athlete in there, the competitor in there, is such that I expect him to try to come back and fight a couple of times here in short order. I’ve been very wrong before. … There’s no recreational activity or boxing ring that is going to do for him, what a win over Michael Chandler and some of these other guys can do,” Anik said
McGregor’s Stock
Nevertheless, the issue facing McGregor is that he risks getting left behind. Alex Pereira, Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall are some of the biggest names in the UFC currently with their records. While McGregor has earned more financially, the fact that he still plans on returning shows that he is hungry to win more. McGregor also wants to avoid going out at a loss. The defeat to Poirier ended in an unsavory manner, as he was backed up against the Octagon with a broken leg. Despite that desire to see him come back, Anik admitted that he had become frustrated by the length of McGregor’s absence.
“I’m just exhausted. It doesn’t mean I dislike him or I’m hating on him. I’m just exhausted. I guess I’m frustrated – that’s probably the right verb when it comes to some of Conor McGregor’s inactivity. But largely, I think a lot of this has been out of his control. It’s not always easy being the biggest superstar in mixed martial arts. It certainly isn’t easy when you snap your leg in half, and then obviously he had a setback in this most recent training camp,” Anik added
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