McGregor had seemed confident he would make a return at the end of 2023
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UFC President Dana White has seemingly quashed rumours that Conor McGregor would make his return to the Octagon in December at UFC 296.
‘The Notorious’ hasn’t fought since suffering a broken leg in his surprise loss to Dustin Poirier in 2021, but had seemed confident he would make his return at the end of this year against Michael Chandler.
White did not include McGregor however when he announced the headliners for the upcoming UFC 295 and 296 on social media, although he did say that more fights were to be announced.
“The main event for UFC 295 on November 11 in New York is John Jones, the GOAT and reigning heavyweight champion, and he is defending his title against the former champ and the greatest heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic,” White said.
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“On December 16. In Las Vegas, Leon Edwards versus Kobe Covington will headline our last pay per view of the year with the welterweight title on the line.
“We are not done adding fights to these cards so you do not want to miss either one of these events.”
The Irishman missed the deadline for re-enrollment into the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s testing pool in July, which made his return this year questionable given fighters must be in this pool for a minimum of six months before they can fight.
Brock Lesnar was famously given an exemption to this rule in 2016 when he returned for UFC 200, but the official UFC-USADA policy states this can only be for “exceptional circumstances or where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an athlete.”
It now looks like McGregor’s long-awaited return will have to wait until 2024, where his fight with Chandler will likely join anticipated bouts against Justin Gaethje and Nate Diaz.
The 35 year-old’s gap between fights is the longest since he made his UFC debut in 2008.
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