Conor McGregor, the renowned Mixed Martial Artist, has expressed interest in making a comeback to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), potentially taking on current UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad. Prior to a toe injury which forced him to back out of a scheduled match, McGregor had commitments to fight American lightweight fighter, Michael Chandler, at UFC 305, originally planned for June.
Post McGregor’s cancellation, Chandler has now signed up to compete against the second-in-line lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira, at the UFC 309 event taking place in November. Given this new arrangement, McGregor is now on the lookout for a different opponent for his impending return to the UFC, which will be the antepenultimate fight of his current contract.
Not having set foot in the octagon since 2021 owing to a broken leg sustained during a technical knockout (TKO) defeat to Dustin Poirier at the UFC 264 event in Las Vegas, McGregor has, nonetheless, expressed interest in still competing against Chandler. That said, he is open to taking on other fighters, including the newly minted welterweight champion, Muhammad.
McGregor has expressed his eagerness to fight Muhammad, the 36-year-old champion, going so far as to characterise him as being unimpressive. He says, ‘I am eager to fight him’. He is even willing to make Muhammad his next opponent, commenting, ‘OK, Chandler is next. Belal-McGregor – this is the UFC welterweight world title fight on the line’.
McGregor boasts of his strengths as a welterweight fighter, citing multiple knockouts at the 170-weight class. He assures, ‘I have many knockouts at 170, I lay substantial damage at 170’. He exudes confidence, believing that he’s an imposing force in the welterweight division.
He then questioned Muhammad’s credentials, pointing out his lack of knockouts in the UFC. McGregor was not shy to criticize Muhammad’s statistics, declaring, ‘Look at the records. Full accuracy, this man has not even experienced a single knockdown in UFC history. It’s quite embarrassing. All these guys are nothing special’.
Muhammad, on the other hand, is currently enjoying an 11-round victory run in the welterweight category, and secured the division title after decisively defeating Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July. Muhammad, a force in his own right, is not one to take McGregor’s assertions lightly.
McGregor’s comments didn’t go unnoticed by Muhammad who later addressed the issue in a video response. Muhammad seemed less than enthusiastic about repeating the cycle with McGregor, questioning, ‘Conor, how many times are we going to do this?’.
The American welterweight champion Muhammad fired back, noting McGregor’s tendency to challenge and then disappear. He expressed his frustrations saying, ‘Once you start dropping my name, I fire back, but then you vanish again. Let’s halt this nonsense, buddy. We both are well aware you’re not returning to fight us’.
He even pointed out McGregor’s track record, commenting on his absence of victories since 2020. He retorted, ‘We’re aware you require assistance. You haven’t celebrated a victory since the last year. Quit doing this to yourself’.
Muhammad made it clear that he believed McGregor didn’t truly want a rematch, hinting at previous difficulties. ‘You don’t want a recurrence of past events’, Muhammad was quite clear on his thoughts about a possible fight with McGregor.
Muhammad ended by expressing an intriguing sentiment, indicating that he held no ill-will against McGregor. Instead, it seemed he was more interested in extending an olive branch than an invitation to the octagon. ‘I’d rather aid you than fight you lately, mate’, he concluded.
This exchange, although a part of the fight announcement tradition in UFC, is indeed an indication of McGregor’s eagerness to return to the sport and potentially reclaim his position in the UFC rankings. Whether the McGregor-Muhammad fight will materialise is a question only time will answer.