Conor McGregor says only three fights make sense for his UFC return, and that he “wasn’t happy” with the backlash to one potential opponent.
We’re now into mid-March and still no closer to learning when Conor McGregor will be returning to the UFC octagon, with the Irishman currently busy promoting the new Road House remake alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.
Speaking to Adam Catterall via talkSPORT MMA, McGregor revealed three fighters who are in the front-running for his UFC return: Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Nate Diaz – although he was taken aback by some backlash to one of these matchups.
Conor McGregor name-drops three opponents for UFC return
Whilst the vast majority of UFC fans are expecting Conor McGregor to return against Michael Chandler in the summer, we are still waiting for official confirmation on the opponent, venue, and most importantly, date.
Talking via the newly launched talkSPORT MMA YouTube channel, McGregor name-dropped three potential opponents for his return fight – the first of which was his TUF 31 rival:
“[Michael] Chandler, of course, I would assume that would be the first one.”
Noting the obvious recency bias, the second name mentioned by ‘Notorious’ was Dustin Poirier, who earned a dramatic comeback KO victory just a few weeks ago at UFC 299 over Benoit Saint-Denis:
“It was good to see [Dustin] Poirier get that win at the weekend, that makes this the quadrilogy – we’ll say the ‘real trilogy’, [that would] really to finish it and put an end to it, that is a huge bout right now…I anticipated that the result would go that way and I was happy to see it, and that’s a great one for sure.”
The third and final name that McGregor called for was Nate Diaz, but the former double champion seemed disgruntled at the public backlash to the trilogy fight happening in the Las Vegas Sphere:
“Obviously, I’ve also got the Diaz trilogy, that’s what I said for The Sphere but there was cold water put on that publicly off the bat, I wasn’t happy about that.”
Despite the contractual limbo that he currently finds himself in, McGregor is still hopeful of getting two fights in 2024, but also warned that if the UFC doesn’t offer him meaningful progress soon, he could quickly lose interest in a return altogether.
“I’ve got two fights left on my UFC contract and we’re still in the first quarter of 2024…I hope we get some clarity with the [return] date, and we can push towards it. I’m sure we’ll get something in by year’s end, that’s what I’m hoping…I need discussion or conversation because if I lose interest and I’m not getting anything back, I’ll just drift off.
After the marketing tour for Road House remake concludes, the Irishman hopes “that I can get something in and get dialed in” before the summer schedule takes shape.