CONOR MCGREGOR’s UFC return has potentially been plunged into chaos – just days after his representatives held talks with the promotion.
The UFC’s first-ever simultaneous two-weight champion is being lined up to make his cage comeback on July 11.
McGregor’s representatives held talks with the UFC brass last week about his octagon return, which has been five years in the making.
A source informed SunSport that initial talks over the Return of The Mac, who is currently serving an 18-month anti-doping suspension for three whereabouts failures, were “positive”.
MMA fans are all asking themselves the same question about McGregor’s comeback: Who will he fight?
The universal answer to that question was Nate Diaz.
But a trilogy fight with his fellow fan favourite is off the cards, for now at least, after Diaz inked a shock deal with Jake Paul‘s Most Valuable Promotions.
Diaz, 40, has signed on the dotted line to take on Mike Perry on Netflix‘s maiden MMA card, which will be headlined by Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano, on May 16.
So that rules him out of the running to welcome McGregor back to action on the UFC’s International Fight Week show.
Another name not line in to face ‘The Notorious’ is Michael Chandler.
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Chandler spent the best part of two years waiting to fight the Irishman before moving on and having bouts with Charles Oliveira and Paddy Pimblett.
The pair were expected to finally throw down on the UFC’s White House card on June 14.
Chandler will be in action on the presidential bill, but just not against McGregor.
The former three-time Bellator lightweight champion will take on Mauricio Ruffy in the shadow of the Oval Office.
Diaz and Chandler were undoubtedly the two standouts to face McGregor in his return.
And they were, on paper, the most winnable fights for Mystic Mac, considering the Dubliner’s near five-year hiatus following the broken leg he suffered in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier.
McGregor was due to make his cage comeback in June 2024 against Chandler but withdrew from their Sin City showdown with a broken left pinky toe.
His next fight will be his first since he was found liable in civil court of assaulting Nikita Hand at a Dublin hotel in 2018.
The Notorious lost his appeal of the verdict, which was turned in by a jury of his peers at Dublin’s High Court in November 2024.
And the Supreme Court rejected the MMA star’s bid for a further appeal last December.
