The Mac is back.
Conor McGregor will make his return to the UFC Octagon at UFC 303 in a bout against the man who coached opposite him during The Ultimate Fighter, Michael Chandler.
It had been largely speculated that fans would see ‘The Notorious’ return to action some time in 2024, but it was unclear as to when he would be ready and who he would face.
Midway through his UFC 300 post fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White was handed a note whilst answering questions from The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis. When asked if he would like to read out what was White proceeded to say:
“June 1st, Newark, New Jersey Pay-Per-View, main event, Islam vs Poirier. Co-main event, 5 rounds, Strickland vs Costa.”
Then, with a smile on his face, he continued. “June 29th, Conor vs Chandler. 5 rounds, 170lbs. Who has got the next question?!”
He was then of course asked about the return of McGregor and questioned as to how the Chandler fight has eventually come to be. White revealed that a lot of it was due to timings, with the former two weight division champion eventually being ready to throw himself back into training following a busy time away from the cage.
“It is not that we have been working on it for ages, there is all kinds of things that go on behind the scenes. It is all about timing. Chandler has been ready but Conor hasn’t been ready. Conor, we talked about this at one of the press conferences recently, he had a lot of obligations that he had to deal with. What you don’t want him doing is accepting a fight when he has got a ton of obligations and he cannot train 100% for a fight so, here we are tonight.”
The fight will mark McGregor’s first contest back inside the octagon since his horror leg break against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. The fight will see the 35-year-old back in action for the first time since July 2021. Reflecting on the injury, White discussed how not only the severity of the leg break can be an issue, but the tough recovery period can also lead further time on the sidelines.
“I think when you look at that injury, it’s happened in the UFC. We have just saw Chris Weidman come back, Anderson came back from it, you have seen it in football. It is probably one of the nastiest injuries that you could possibly get, you know. You see guys with broken arms all the time and stuff like that happens but it’s hard for us as humans to wrap our brain around that bone breaking, it is a nasty injury and it is a rough recovery too, it is a really rough recovery.”
When McGregor last made the walk, Chandler had only two UFC bouts under his belt. Since then, the 31 fight veteran has made a big name for himself in the promotion, with his exciting fighting style appealing to many fans. Having been wanting the McGregor fight for some time, Chandler also has had a while away from the Octagon. The last time he made the walk was back in 2022, when he faced Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 in November 2022.
You can see Dana White’s full post UFC press conference, below:
