It’s been a wild few weeks for Conor McGregor and the UFC 303 pay-per-view he was originally scheduled to headline alongside veteran fighter Michael Chandler. The fight was on, then it was off, then it was maybe on again. Now it’s officially off, at least McGregor’s portion of it. UFC President Dana White revealed the larger event will go on as planned with Alex Pereira and Jirí Procházka now main eventing and McGregor and Chandler happening at some point in the future.
McGregor echoed those sentiments in his own statement he released yesterday. The legendary MMA star who recently played a key support in the Road House remake said he suffered an injury prior to the press conference but is “confident” he’ll be back. Many in the media have already started looking ahead at potential replacement dates with The Sun eyeing a possible fight in late Summer and prominent fighting journalist Ariel Helwani saying he’s hoping for late August/ early Fall. If you look at social media, however, fans are a whole lot less confident.
In fact, once the rumors of a possible cancellation started coming out, many fans were almost immediately pessimistic. After confirmation the fight was over, many took to social media to predict we’ll never see McGregor get in the ring again. Here’s a sample tweet with more than a thousand likes…
Conor McGregor has won just a single MMA fight in the last seven-and-a-half years. It’s over. Just stop it. pic.twitter.com/LQl3YZ5VqAJune 13, 2024
McGregor is about to turn thirty-six years old. We’ve, of course, seen a lot of older fighters step back in the ring after layoffs over the last several years, partly thanks to Jake Paul, but the majority of those fights were exhibitions and/ or were against other aging fighters. There are also still ongoing questions about whether Paul’s fight against Mike Tyson will even happen. Getting back in the UFC Octagon in your mid-to-late 30s after an almost three year layoff is another animal entirely, especially given McGregor has been prone to detours a lot in his career.
At arguably the height of his popularity, McGregor decided to step away from the UFC and box Floyd Mayweather in a fight that drew more than five million pay-per-view buys, a truly astronomical figure. Then later, after breaking his tibia during a fight against Dustin Poirier, he decided to coach a season of The Ultimate Fighter and then play the lead henchman in Road House to mostly rave reviews. As such, it’s fair for fans to wonder how invested he is in returning to MMA, especially given he’s reportedly about to make $6M from an antitrust lawsuit. As such, fans are now more focused on tweeting jokes about his inactivity…
Conor McGregor went undefeated in 2022, 2023 and hasn’t lost in 2024 🇮🇪Name another athlete that’s done that 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/9GM72y1DjZJune 15, 2024
I’d love to see McGregor return to action again. When he was in his prime, he had a swagger about him that stood out, even amongst other professional fighters who try desperately to have a swagger. He’s one of the biggest stars the sport has ever produced and rightfully so, but he also should only come back if his heart is fully in it and his body can hold up, especially given there’s plenty of other things fans are excited about seeing him do.
