MMA
The return of Conor McGregor is imminent. Will he go straight for the title?
Irish wrestler Conor McGregor is eyeing a return to the octagon. His manager Tim Simpson has hinted at the living MMA legend’s plans.
Irish wrestler Conor McGregor is eyeing a return to the octagon. His manager Tim Simpson has hinted at the living MMA legend’s plans.
Conor’s nagging injury
Conor McGregor suffered a nasty injury in a trilogy with Dustin Poirier last July. He broke his ankle in the second round when he stepped on it and it was abundantly clear that the fight was over. After the fight, there were rumors that the star Irishman would not be back, thus ending his illustrious career.
However, looking at McGregor still in the octagon, sitting out another fight with a broken leg, it was clear that the heart of the fighter in him was still beating at its proverbial pace.
It was widely expected that the Irishman would return to training sometime towards the end of 2021. “The Notorious”, however, had already been training in the gym for two weeks following the nasty injury and was doing everything he could to speed up his recovery considerably.
The return of the Irish fighter
His manager Tim Simpson, who also has UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya under his wing, paid a visit to well-known journalist Ariel Helwani and talked, among other things, about the return of his Irish charge.
Many media outlets have been gradually coming out with information that Conor may return in the summer. “I don’t think it’s going to be in the summer, but it’s definitely going to be some stage of this year,” confirmed the return of the big Irishman on MMAFightingonSBN’s YouTube channel.
Conor McGregor is, of course, the biggest star in the entire sport, and he is Dana White’s most valuable “commodity” in terms of PPV sales. He’s made a huge amount of money in his lifetime and it’s admirable that he still finds the motivation within himself to come back and fight the best in his field.
“What can we say, Conor no longer has the need to prove anything to himself. He’s achieved everything he could achieve financially and athletically,” Simpson said. “He practically has no reason to fight anymore, but he really wants to, which is really amazing to me,” explaining the Irish legend’s exceptionalism.
Which opponent will Conor challenge?
The question naturally arises as to who he will face in his expected return. There are a number of options that would make sense. The world media is speculating about a fourth fight with Poirier, the completion of a trilogy with Nate Diaz, or that he would step straight into a lightweight title fight.
“In truth there are a number of names and whoever Conor takes on, the fight will sell because of him,” his manager responded to the possible opponent. “But it’s quite likely that we’ll wait for the winner of the Oliveira vs. Gaethje fight and then decide,” thus hinting at the possibility of a direct title fight.
Especially in the case of a title fight won by Justin Gaethje, it would certainly be an event of the biggest proportions. Gaethje has made no secret of his disdain for the Irish warrior on more than one occasion in the past, and given the fighting style of both fighters, we could get an adept warrior of the year.
The Oliveira vs. Gaethje title fight is set to take place in early May at the UFC 274 gala, with Moravian samurai Jirka Procházka also fighting for the biggest moment in Czech MMA.
Source: MMAFightingonSBN, Twitter
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