“I’m walking in there 100% Conor McGregor”
🇮🇪Conor McGregor joins Dan Hardy in the Cage to speak on Sinead
Kavanagh and his fight with Michael Chandler in the future!#BellatorDublin
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pic.twitter.com/TZPc29fz62— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA)
June 22, 2024
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Conor
McGregor was in the public eye over the weekend, attending
Bellator Champions Series Dublin in support of
SBG Ireland teammate Sinead
Kavanagh.
That also meant that the Irish star had the opportunity to address
the severity of the broken toe that forced him to withdraw from his
proposed matchup with Michael
Chandler in the UFC 303
main event. The former two-division champion hasn’t fought since
suffering a broken leg in a loss to Dustin
Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.
“The injury is a nuisance. It’s painful,” McGregor told SevereMMA in a backstage interview at Bellator Dublin.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s very, very painful. Probably even more
painful than the leg, and that’s the truth. And I’ll tell you why,
the leg, at least, was wrapped up. I couldn’t access it. The foot
is just there still, it’s like it’s exposed. So it’s a bit painful
but it comes with the territory.”
McGregor, who wore slippers rather than shoes to the 3Arena,
already has a timeline in mind for his return from the broken toe.
The “Notorious” also revealed that the treatment he has received
for the injury has caused some significant swelling.
“August, September, I’d love [that]. I’m in recovery mode. It’s
three weeks to the day, it happened three weeks ago today,”
McGregor said. “I’m still here rocking around in the slippers.
They’re not bad slippers, thankfully and they’re cozy enough but I
can’t get into a shoe yet. They put stem cells in my foot. They
came and took it from the back and put it in my foot, 20 mg of stem
cells out of my own back, from the bone marrow in and right into
the break.
“My f—ing toe is sore and I don’t know if the stem cells into the
break was the right move because you know the way chicks put the
filler in their face: my f—ing baby toe looks like that. I don’t
think it’s the swelling anymore. I think it’s just the stem cells
in my toe.”
While McGregor is optimistic about a relatively quick turnaround
from the injury, there is some question as to how the UFC’s biggest
star will fit into the promotion’s schedule for the remaining
summer months. UFC 305
is slated for Perth, Australia, on Aug. 17 and already has a
middleweight championship headliner between Dricus Du
Plessis and Israel
Adesanya on tap. Meanwhile, the organization appears to have
different plans for UFC
306, which will be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
At the moment, UFC CEO Dana White isn’t willing to speculate about
where McGregor might fit in on the itinerary.
“I don’t know right now. Our schedule is laid out. We’ll see,”
White said at the
UFC on ABC 6 post-fight press conference. “I’m not doing
anything until I know that Conor is healthy. It’s not even worth
talking about.
“What about September? What about October? He’s not ready. So why
even talk about that?”
It’s essentially the same stance White took during a recent
interview with the Sports Business Journal. With that in mind,
White will consider the possibilities once he knows McGregor is
cleared to compete.
“I’m not thinking about Conor fighting anybody right now,” White
said. “I have no time frame, I have nothing. McGregor’s not even
healed yet. McGregor’s hurt.”