Conor McGregor has some marquee matchups in thoughts for his return.
Earlier this yr, McGregor was imagined to make his long-awaited return to the octagon in a welterweight battle in opposition to Michael Chandler at UFC 303. Sadly, a couple of weeks earlier than the occasion, McGregor suffered a toe damage which pressured him to withdraw from the battle and followers had been as soon as once more left questioning when and if the boisterous famous person would ever return.
Happily for followers, McGregor stays undeterred. Since withdrawing from UFC 303, the previous two-division UFC champion has maintained that he will likely be again quickly, on Tuesday McGregor spoke with The Schmo about how issues are progressing on that entrance.
“We’re searching for the date,” McGregor mentioned. “Hopefully, I’d wish to sq. it away with Michael Chandler. I’d wish to get Chandler in. We’ve had our beef, it’s not settled. He has a match scheduled. I’d wish to battle, possibly earlier than that or earlier than he’s recovered so there’s a couple of names within the line on the minute. There’s a couple of names being mentioned.”
Chandler does in actual fact have a reserving. After spending almost two years on the shelf ready for a battle with McGregor, following the UFC 303 incident, Chandler lastly opted to simply accept one other battle, a rematch with Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.
Provided that, and the truth that UFC CEO Dana White seems to be concentrating on an early 2025 return for McGregor, Chandler’s availability could be very a lot up within the air for the time being. Happily for McGregor, there aren’t any scarcity of huge names who could be greater than prepared to welcome him again to the cage, however “Infamous” has his sights set on two particularly: outdated foes Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz.
“Each of them. Each,” McGregor mentioned. “It’s a should, for positive. The Dustin one is just not settled, it’s 1-1-1. And the Diaz one can also be 1-1. Two large blockbuster matches and I’m excited to get them locked in.”
Poirier and McGregor have shared a trilogy of bouts over a seven yr interval. McGregor first defeated Poirier by knockout at UFC 178 down at featherweight, however Poirier avenged his loss with a knockout of his personal at UFC 257 up at 155 kilos. Poirier then received their third bout at UFC 264 when McGregor shattered his leg, although “Infamous” disputes this consequence due to the damage.
Diaz is presumably McGregor’s largest rival, the person who first defeated the Irish famous person within the UFC, stepping in on 10 days’ discover to attain the upset at UFC 196. The 2 rematched 5 months later at UFC 202 with McGregor profitable a majority resolution in probably the greatest fights of the yr. Diaz left the UFC in 2022 to pursue pursuits in boxing, although he’s just lately been rumored to presumably be coming again to the promotion.
