Conor McGregor has yet again teased his return to action.
McGregor, who hasn’t fought in nearly four years, sent two messages to the UFC and its CEO Dana White, calling for his boss to ‘get this show started.’
McGregor tagged Dana White and the UFC in consecutive social media postsGetty He hasn’t fought since injuring his leg at UFC 264 in July 2021GettyThe 36-year-old from Dublin, Ireland, hasn’t entered the Octagon since suffering ‘multiple stress fractures’ to his shinbone in a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
“Call that big butt nurse,” McGregor wrote on Thursday via his Instagram story, tagging White and the UFC’s parent company TKO Group Holdings in a bid to re-join the organisation’s testing pool and return to action.
This followed a previous message from McGregor during UFC 315 this past weekend.
“Wow! Real exciting times again in the UFC,” the former two-division UFC champion said as Jack Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad to become the new welterweight champion.
“Oh yes. Bravo Dana White. Never a doubt.”
He followed up with a second post that said: “Let’s get this show started UFC.”
While some fans were optimistic that McGregor’s comments were the first sign of him returning to the UFC, most MMA fans were sceptical.
Responding to his social media posts, one fan wrote on X: “He’s all talk no action, I doubt we’ll see him in the octagon anytime soon or even at all.”
Another said: “Someone tell this man to go to sleep. No one is even interested anymore.”
A third added: “I can’t wait for this to amount to absolutely nothing. Exciting times, indeed,” while a fourth responded: “Here we go again.”
This was another of McGregor’s regular hints that he could be open to a UFC return.
McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in 2021Getty The Irishman was meant to fight Chandler last June, but withdrew after injuring his toeGETTYHe left fans questioning whether he has a future in the sport after posting training footage kicking a heavy bag this week.
The shots were, unsurprisingly, sharp and accurate, but they lacked his trademark power which has secured him so many knockouts in his heyday.
Last month, McGregor also uploaded a video to social media of himself hammering pads with his coach in a call-out to Paddy Pimblett and Michael Chandler ahead of their co-main event bout at UFC 314.
“I am interested in the Chandler/Pimblett fight this weekend,” he captioned the clip.
McGregor was meant to make a return to MMA last June in the main event of UFC 303 against Chandler.
However, a training injury forced the Irishman to pull out from the fight, meaning Chandler went on to fight and lose to Charles Oliveira instead.
Pimblett made easy work of Chandler at UFC 314Getty McGregor may favour a return fight with someone like an out of form ChandlerGettyChandler then fought Pimblett at UFC 314 in April and was stopped by the Liverpudlian after three rounds in dominant style.
This has left many fans wondering if McGregor could make his return to the Octagon for potentially one last dance against Pimblett, who is now just one fight away from a UFC lightweight title shot.
Back in January, talkSPORT MMA pundit Blake Harrison said Pimblett was one of the few lightweights McGregor ‘could’ beat if he decided to make a return.
“Conor is no spring chicken anymore,” he said. “And having been out of the cage for so long… there’s certain videos out there on the internet you can look at, he doesn’t look like he’s in the best mindset and shape and all these things.
“I’m looking down the rankings at lightweight. There’s not a single fight in the whole top 15 that I would favour him in.
“I do think that a big fight you could make that he could win, but probably wouldn’t. But it would be huge. It’s Paddy Pimblett.”
UFC lightweight rankings
McGregor's potential opponents
Islam Makhachev (c) Chales Oliveira Justin Gaethje Max Holloway Dustin Poirier Dan Hooker Mateusz Gamrot Paddy Pimblett Beneil Dariush Renato Moicano Rafael Fiziev Michael Chandler Benoit Saint Denis Grant Dawson Joel AlvarezMcGregor has two fights remaining on his contract with the UFC.
He would need to swing momentum in his favour if he made a return, having stepped away from the sport after consecutive defeats to Poirier.
In fact, ‘The Notorious’ has only one victory in his last four UFC fights, stopping Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in 40 seconds on his return to MMA after losing a famous battle to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.
Pimblett is the No. 8 ranked UFC lightweight and would be an extremely tough test for McGregor.
He may favour a fight with someone like No. 6 ranked Dan Hooker, or a return to his fellow The Ultimate Fighter coach Chandler, who has just one UFC win over the last four years.
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