THE potential date for Conor McGregor’s long-overdue comeback clash with Michael Chandler has seemingly emerged.
The Irishman was due to make his cage comeback against the fellow fan favourite in June in the main event of UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
3Conor McGregor’s comeback clash with Michael Chandler was scuppered by injuryCredit: Getty
3The Notorious revealed to SunSport that he’s angling for a December returnCredit: The Sun
3The UFC officially announced the date their final pay-per-view card of 2024 last weekendCredit: UFC
But a toe injury in one of his final sparring sessions scuppered the Return of the Mac, who hasn’t set foot inside the octagon in over three years.
McGregor, 36, recently revealed to SunSport that he liked the prospect of a December return, saying: “That sounds good to me.
“That sounds good to me brother.”
The date for the UFC’s final pay-per-view card of the year was a mystery when McGregor revealed his plans, although that’s no longer the case.
MMA’s top promotion announced last weekend it will close out its PPV calendar with UFC 310 on December 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
UFC President and CEO Dana White, however, recently cast doubt over McGregor headlining the card, saying: “We didn’t meet up but we talked, and yeah, [McGregor] wants to fight.
“So we’ll figure it out. [But] not this year. He won’t fight this year.”
That prompted a fired-up McGregor to tweet: “Ah Dana. December is the date!
“Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this?
“I am off to altitude next month to prepare. December. Tell Dana and UFC we want December! We deserve December.”
White has since performed a U-turn on the prospect of McGregor vs Chandler topping the UFC 310 bill.
He said: “I don’t know what Chandler’s planning on doing.
“I know he’s kind of kicking around right now.
“You know, you can imagine after I said that, Conor was blowing me up, going, ‘I’ll definitely fight this year.’
“When we get to a point where we’re setting a fight and I believe that a Conor McGregor fight is going to happen, I will announce it.
“As of right now, I believe that Conor will not fight this year.
“Conor’s saying he wants to fight, he wants to fight in December. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Former two-division champion McGregor hasn’t set foot inside the octagon since breaking his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier over three years ago.
