Conor
McGregor’s potential return to the Octagon continues to be a
confusing saga.
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The biggest star in the history of the sport hasn’t fought since
breaking his leg in a trilogy clash with Dustin
Poirier at
UFC264 in July 2021. While it’s been a while since he has fully
recovered, McGregor has recently spent most of his time promoting
his acting debut in the “Road House” remake.
Although “Notorious” finally returned to the promotion’s drug
testing pool this past October, his Octagon appearance continues to
be pushed back without any clear explanation.
McGregor has been targeting a return to action during International
Fight Week in June and a subsequent clash at the UFC’s mega event
at the Sphere on Mexican Independence Day in September. However,
the Irishman has alluded to a lack of communication from the
promotion’s side, leading to ambiguity about his future.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did call for that also that would be great for
me, June 29 and then the Sphere,” McGregor recently told talkSPORT MMA. “And then what? What happens then? I
don’t know. And I wonder do they know? There’s been no talk about
anything. So, I wonder what next.”
Asked about potential opponents, McGregor called for a quadrilogy
with Poirier, who scored a massive knockout win over an
up-and-coming Benoit St.
Denis at UFC
299 earlier this month. The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship two division title holder is
also targeting a trilogy with Nate Diaz, who
recently voiced his support for “Notorious” in light of the
situation with the UFC.
While McGregor was originally plotting the Diaz trilogy for the
Sphere in September, Dana White shut it down in a recent presser,
much to the ire of the Dubliner.
“It’s good to see Poirier get that win [at UFC 299]. That makes
this the quadrilogy, we’ll say the real trilogy [due to the leg
injury in the third fight], the finish of it, put an end to it, put
a finish to it. That is a huge bout right now,” said McGregor. “I
anticipated the result [UFC 299] would go that way and I was happy
to see it. And that’s a big one for sure. Obviously, I’ve got the
[Nate] Diaz trilogy. That’s what I had said for the Sphere. You
know there was cold water put on that publicly off the bat, and I
wasn’t happy with that. I need discussion or conversation because
if I lose interest and I’m not getting anything back, I just drift
off my man. So I hope I can get something in and get dialed
in.”
McGregor was originally expected to face Michael
Chandler, who has been waiting on the sidelines for him since a
submission loss to Poirier in November 2022. McGregor is still open
to facing his rival coach from “The Ultimate Fighter 31.”
“Chandle,r of course,” he said. “I assume that would be the first
one.”
During a recent appearance on “The
MMA Hour”, McGregor’s long-time coach, John
Kavanagh, said “Notorious” is ready to return to action,
calling the lack of interest from the UFC “weird.”