Conor McGregor is poised to return to the UFC Octagon following a green light on his drug testing and getting back to the gym.
McGregor was once ranked as the world’s highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2021, earning a reported $180 million, but injuries have blighted him since 2021 when he sustained a broken tibia in a bout against Dustin Poirier, and ended up losing the match on a technicality.
Since then, McGregor has been eagerly looking forward to a return to UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), the largest mixed martial arts (MMA) sport in the World, although again cursed with hitches, including a broken toe
For some time he had been off the list of athletes in the UFC’s drug testing pool, but has since entered the Drug Free Sport International programme, which has made him the most tested athlete on the UFC’s roster. On Monday, September 23, McGregor showed off his negative doping result on social media with the caption ‘most tested athlete on the UFC roster x2. I deserve my fight date! #CleanAthlete.’ Now he’s insisting he will get back in the octagon in 2025.
Conor McGregor back in the gym, and back in the media eye
Lately, he has been concentrating more on building his brand, being seen in all the right places, including Marbella in July, promoting big name UFC fights, and more recently at Wembley Stadium at the Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua bout. Now, he’s back in the eye of the media, insisting he is in the gym and that he will be 100 percent fit for a comeback date yet to be set.
McGregor is keen to meet Michael Chandler in the octagon after his toe injury forced him to cancel their fight in June. While plans are being made behind the scenes, no one knows yet who he will face next or where.
Michael Chandler wants Conor McGregor back in the UFC Octagon too!
Chandler too has been eager to reschedule, hoping to face off McGregor in December’s UFC 310, but UFC president. However, the president of the UFC, Dana White, quickly put a damper on that idea, suggesting 2025 will be the right moment to bring back ‘Notorious’, as McGregor is also known. White also implied it may be a’super fight’ event at Croke Park.
Dana White was in Dublin recently to promote Callum Walsh’s big fight and is said to have commented that, probably, the fellow Irishman would be first to go up against McGregor. Due to what was described as ‘plane issues’, McGregor couldn’t make it to the Walsh fight. He did make it in time for the after-fight party at the Black Forge Inn in Dublin, though.
