Conor McGregor hasn’t competed in a year, but UFC president Dana White is hoping the Notorious One’s hiatus is short-lived. After injuring his leg in his previous bout, White told TMZ Sports that McGregor is “beginning to speed up his preparation” and that he intends to return to fighting by “the end of this year, early next year.”
On July 11, McGregor had surgery. His bout with Dustin Poirier had been interrupted at the conclusion of the first round when McGregor attempted to plant his left foot and his leg gave way beneath him.
Doctors claimed they were “confident” Conor McGregor would “make a full recovery” and that they “anticipated his return to the Octagon,” according to a statement sent by his agent, Audie Attar.
Speaking to Severe MMA in February, McGregor stated that he had been assured by doctors that he would be able to spar again in April, but he didn’t give a specific date for his return to competition.
I feel better every day, he remarked. They’re asking me to just take it easy, but I feel like I can go, so I just need to kind of rein myself back in. McGregor’s next opponent, according to White, is Michael Chandler, but he added: “We’ll see what the landscape looks like when that fight takes place.
At UFC 274 on May 7, Chandler defeated Tony Ferguson by second-round TKO to end a two-fight losing streak. McGregor has a 3-4 record in his previous seven contests since defeating Jose Aldo in December 2015 to win the undisputed UFC featherweight championship. Both of his most recent losses—to Poirier—came in fights.
McGregor experimented with boxing in addition to mixed martial arts in preparation for a 2017 matchup with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Despite the fact that he was defeated by TKO in the tenth round, the fight was a huge commercial success with 4.3 million pay-per-view purchases.