Conor McGregor last fought inside the Octagon in November of 2016, defeating Eddie Alvarez to capture the UFC’s 155-pound title. He took time off to adjust to fatherhood and a blockbuster boxing bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. materialized. He’ll take on the unbeaten boxer in August, but his coach, John Kavanagh, expects McGregor to back in the cage this year.
“Many of the questions I’ve been receiving over the past week have focused on when Conor will fight in the UFC again. My expectation is that it will happen this year, although it’s always difficult to predict what Conor is going to do next,” wrote Kavanagh in an article for The 42.
The only hiccup could be if McGregor goes out and stuns the world by knocking out Mayweather. That could lead to talks of a rematch and delay his return to mixed martial arts.
“If he goes in there and knocks out Mayweather in the first round, there will probably be talk of rematches and stuff like that. But the tentative plan, as I see it, is certainly for a fight in the UFC in December. But in the meantime we’re completely focused on boxing and Floyd Mayweather,” he wrote.
McGregor has not defended his UFC lightweight title. The fight promotion put together an interim lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson for UFC 209, but the fight fell through prior to the weigh-in after Nurmagomedov was hospitalized due to weight cutting issues.
