Last month at UFC 264, Conor McGregor (22-6) suffered arguably the toughest loss of his career. Not tough in terms of suffering a loss, but tough in terms of the injury that caused the fight to stop and his career to hit pause.
McGregor was taking on Dustin Poirier (28-6, 1 NC) in the installment of their rivalry. Both men had finished the other by knockout in the first two fights. The third fight perfectly encapsulated the first two fights within one round.
Early on in the first round, McGregor was doing incredibly well. He was blasting Poirier with leg kicks and at one point seemed to hurt Poirier with strikes. However, Poirier quickly turned the tables and started pushing forward.
McGregor went for a guillotine choke which proved to be a grave mistake. Poirier ended up on top and dominated most of the round from that top position. Late in the round, Poirier let McGregor up and the two started striking.
The former UFC two-division champion threw his patented straight left hand and missed. When he stepped back, his leg snapped. The fight was declared over in between rounds and McGregor suffered another loss at UFC 264.
McGregor’s UFC return
The former UFC champion had surgery to fix his broken leg and he’s been rehabbing ever since. He’s been documenting his progress and McGregor is fully focused on returning to the octagon in 2022.Â
Make no mistake about it, McGregor is planning on returning to the top of the UFC. In fact, he plans on going right into a title shot. McGregor had a Q&A session on his personal Twitter today where he took fan questions.
In one response, he said that he plans on walking right back into a UFC title shot. Personally, I can see it happening if Poirier is the lightweight champion. With the way the last fight ended, there still appears to be some unfinished business there.
However, McGregor talked about the fact that he’s interested in the UFC’s welterweight title. McGregor said that he would spark Kamaru Usman (19-1) which prompted a quick response from the UFC’s welterweight champion.
It’ll be interesting to see where McGregor goes upon his return. I would recommend that he returns to lightweight, but with The Notorious one, you truly never know what he and the UFC are cooking up.