Conor McGregor has expressed his desire to return to the UFC, but claims he has not had any meaningful discussions with the organization about potential fights or opponents.
Conor McGregor is itching for a fight. Yet, he says he’s had no real talks with the UFC about his comeback.
He’s been busy promoting his acting debut in the Road House reboot. But, he can’t dodge questions about his fighting career in interviews.
Answers? He doesn’t have many. There were whispers that he might face Michael Chandler at UFC 300. But that didn’t pan out.
Then, McGregor dropped hints about fighting at UFC 303 on June 29. But UFC CEO Dana White squashed that idea, hoping for a fall return for the Irish star. McGregor? He’s just waiting on the UFC.
“I’d love to fight on June 29,” McGregor told talkSport. “If they give me that, we can go ahead. I did call for that also at The Sphere in September. That would be great. June 29, The Sphere, and then what? I don’t know.”
He added, “I wonder if they know. There’s been no talk about anything. So I wonder what’s next.”
McGregor did talk about potential opponents. He mentioned a couple of rematches he’d like to revisit. One was a trilogy with Nate Diaz at The Sphere in Las Vegas. White shot that idea down fast.
McGregor wasn’t pleased. Not one bit.
“It’s good to see Poirier get that win at UFC 299,” he said. “That makes this the quadrilogy, the real trilogy, the finish of it. That is a huge bout right now. I anticipate the result will go that way, and I was happy to see it. That’s a big one for sure.”
He continued, “Obviously, I’ve got the Diaz trilogy. That’s what I had said for The Sphere. There was cold water put on that publicly off the bat, and I wasn’t happy with that. I need discussion, a conversation, because if I lose interest, I’m not getting anything back, and I just drift off. I hope I can get something in and get dialed in.”
McGregor named Chandler as his most likely opponent for his UFC return. But even that hasn’t been discussed recently. That’s why he doesn’t care who he fights, as long as it’s booked soon.
“Chandler, of course, I assume that will be the first one,” McGregor said. “I would assume that would be the first one.”
He concluded, “The opponent doesn’t matter. I just wish for a nice run-up, a bit of transparency and let me go for it again.”