Earlier this week Conor McGregor had warned that he might ‘drift away’ from the sport if he couldn’t get a fight booked, but it appears there’s since been a breakthrough as he’s now claiming he’ll return to action in the summer.
“The call has been made and we’re a go,” McGregor told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on Wednesday.
“This means this summer, the Mac is back. So with I’m happy with my time I’ve got in the lead-up to it, I’m happy with where I’m at, and everything just works out in God’s name. And I’m ecstatic where I’m at. I’ve got great news the other day.”
McGregor had previously claimed back on New Years Eve that he’d be fighting Michael Chandler in June during the UFC’s annual International Fight Week in Las Vegas, though Dana White later said that wasn’t true and had suggested the fall season as the likely landing spot for the superstar’s return.
As yet the UFC haven’t confirmed McGregor’s new claims about fighting in the summer, and the former two-division champion stopped short of giving details on exactly when and where he’ll be competing.
However, it sounds as if he expects Chandler to be his opponent, and he’s suggested that it’s likely to be a three-rounder due to his long absence from the Octagon since breaking his leg back in the summer of 2021.
“Look at Anthony Joshua right now, with consistency. I was watching ringside, I watched — boom, boom, boom, sharper each time,” McGregor said. “Look at [Joseph] Parker … amazing warrior of a man, amazing boxer, look at him — boom, boom, boom. Consistency breeds quality. So I’m coming in here, years out of the game.
“Now I’m sparring and fighting and I feel good and sharp, but I’m going to have to get my in-league sharpness, and that’s going to have to come through the things. So the weight has no been discussed. I know I had that little buzz — I haven’t discussed the weight. To be honest, I haven’t jumped on weigh-in scales since the [Dustin Poirier] fight, the last fight. Since I weighed in on the last one, I have not touched the scales, not once. So I don’t even [know], I’ll have to go through all that. And then rounds, maybe I might say them, ‘Look, I’m just going three rounds, lads, for this one, and I want to just wet my beak.’
“Because I’ll do three three rounds really nicely now. And rather than pushing through to get to five — it’s just, I feel if I push right now to walk toward five full fitness rounds, I feel like the first three rounds wouldn’t be as sharp as I could get them. So I’d rather sharpen the blade of three, and go in nice and sharp and fresh, get the feel, get the fight. Chandler is going to come for it, Chandler is going to come at me, he’s going to want to try and engage and come at me. He’s going to have to, and that’s his style. So I think three is a lovely one.”
McGregor has been busy lately promoting his role in the new remake of ‘Road House’, but with the movie having been released today on Amazon Prime it shouldn’t be long before he can turn his full attention to training for his upcoming fight.
“I can’t act the bollocks now,” McGregor said. “That’s the thing. [Before this] you’re f****** flat out and I’m doing these camps, but nothing’s really there, so it’s kind of like the old temptation — my lovely Proper 12 Irish whiskey, my lovely port stout, my lovely penchant for a bit of madness and a bit of nice music in my ears and dancing and all the rest of it. And now I have to tighten up. I’m going in there, the man’s going to trying to be swinging bombs at me, so it’s great for me. It’s great for me and I’m excited and I can’t wait. Like I said, I got the sparring going straightaway, felt nice, trained today, and onwards we go.”
Watch McGregor’s full interview with Helwani below.
