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Andreas Hale, ESPN
THE FANTASY BECAME a actuality as Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor stood face-to-face on in a memorable image taken on July 12, 2017, by lauded fight photographer Esther Lin. The 2 fighters had been on the Budweiser Stage in Toronto on the second cease of a world tour to advertise their upcoming boxing match on Aug. 26, 2017.
McGregor, dressed to the nines in a royal blue go well with, his arm outstretched in Mayweather’s face, beckoning him to carry it on. Mayweather, sporting black denims, a black The Cash Staff T-shirt with an identical baseball cap — and maybe tens of millions in jewellery — pointing at his Irish opponent.
A sea of followers stretched past what Lin’s lens may seize. A lot had been there to see Mayweather, however many, if no more, had been there to see McGregor. Irish flags and pro-McGregor indicators had been scattered all through the group. Whereas Mayweather had lengthy been boxing’s greatest money cow, the conclusion that McGregor wasn’t too far behind was crystallizing.
McGregor matched Mayweather’s wit on the microphone and left Toronto because the fan favourite.
This second solidified McGregor as one of many greatest sights in fight sports activities and as a mainstream megastar. This wasn’t only a combat however a world occasion that captured everybody’s creativeness.
However what began as a tour that includes two of the most important superstars in fight sports activities devolved right into a trash-talking, ego-measuring contest — bringing out the worst in McGregor.
Gone was the three-piece go well with after the Toronto showdown, changed with floral pants and a mink polar bear coat draped over his shirtless shoulders. What had been pleasant, but aggressive banter remodeled into racially insensitive and anti-gay verbal jabs.
Mayweather was used to this sort of consideration. McGregor — 4 years faraway from making a disclosed $24,000 for beating Max Holloway — was coming into new territory as a celeb.
“Conor was realizing that he was simply as fashionable as Mayweather and he may have his viewers,” Lin, who has photographed McGregor and Mayweather in her profession, informed ESPN. “I do not know if he had it in him earlier than that cease however he actually embraced it through the tour and knew precisely find out how to trip that to the highest.”
Simply over a month later, Mayweather scored a Tenth-round stoppage over McGregor. However the ache of shedding was rapidly remedied by the large success of the occasion that earned McGregor a assured purse of $30 million based on the Nevada State Athletic Fee — which the Irishman urged ballooned to over $100 million when together with the pay-per-view, gate, sponsorship income and merchandise gross sales — for lower than half-hour of labor. The estimated $55.5 million dwell gate registered because the second greatest in boxing historical past, whereas the 4.3 million pay-per-view buys fell shy of the 4.6 million generated by Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao.
The $130 million payday dwarfed McGregor’s earlier excessive of $6.8 million for his UFC light-weight championship win over Eddie Alvarez. UFC president Dana White knew that the Conor McGregor of previous was lengthy gone.
“Conor may by no means combat once more,” White informed reporters throughout a media luncheon at UFC headquarters in November 2017. “The man’s bought $100 f—ing million. I’ve bought guys that made lower than that and had been attorneys and went to highschool their entire life and stop working … attempt to stand up every single day and get punched within the face when you may have $100 million within the financial institution.
“Cash adjustments every thing.”
McGregor has chased the skilled and financial highs he reached practically seven years in the past for the reason that evening he walked out of the boxing ring in opposition to Mayweather. What’s transpired since 2017 is only one UFC win and numerous setbacks, together with: arrests, accidents, lawsuits and a number of allegations of sexual assault.
0:29
Flashback: Conor McGregor wreaks havoc at UFC 223 media day
Former UFC light-weight champion Conor McGregor stormed Barclays Heart along with his entourage on Thursday, showing to break a automobile containing UFC fighters.
• Nov. 10, 2017: McGregor returns to the game of MMA in help of SBG Eire teammate Charlie Ward at Bellator 187 in Dublin. McGregor jumped into the cage to have a good time Ward’s win earlier than the combat was over and was concerned in a melee.
• March 2, 2018: Dana White pronounces his intentions to strip McGregor of his light-weight title attributable to inactivity. The plan is to award the title to the winner of the scheduled combat between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson on April 7. Ferguson pulled out of the bout on April 1 attributable to damage and was changed on quick discover by Al Iaquinta.
• April 5, 2018: Following UFC 223 media day, McGregor and a few dozen males stormed the loading dock on the Barclays Heart in pursuit of Nurmagomedov, who slapped McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov early within the week. McGregor launched a metallic dolly at a bus carrying UFC fighters, together with Nurmagomedov. The dolly shattered a window, and the fragments injured Michael Chiesa, Ray Borg and Brandon Moreno. McGregor turned himself into the NYPD and was charged with three counts of assault and felony mischief. White referred to as the incident “essentially the most disgusting factor that has ever occurred within the historical past of the corporate.”
ON AUG. 3, 2018, it was introduced that McGregor would finish his practically two-year MMA hiatus and problem Nurmagomedov for the light-weight title at UFC 229 on Oct. 6, 2018. Though there had been issues about McGregor’s habits, White, lower than a yr faraway from McGregor’s cash-grab match with Mayweather, now scoffed on the notion that McGregor’s need to be the most effective fighter on the planet had softened.
“I would not say this can be a crossroads combat [for McGregor] … this can be a essential combat for each fighters,” White mentioned. “For my part, and it is loopy to say this due to how fashionable he’s around the globe, he is some of the underrated fighters within the UFC.”
In contrast to his earlier feuds with opponents, there was an apparent and distinct mutual hatred between McGregor and Nurmagomedov. However White did not suppose that their vitriol would manifest into something he must be involved about.
“I do not suppose we’ll have any issues with these guys,” White mentioned.
He could not have been extra incorrect.
By the point UFC 229 combat week started, the combat had grown into some of the hostile rivalries in UFC historical past. McGregor’s trash discuss towards Nurmagomedov crossed non secular and cultural strains, together with taunting Nurmagomedov’s Muslim religion by providing him whiskey to drink at a pre-fight information convention and referring to Nurmagomedov’s Egyptian supervisor as a “terrorist.”
The strain was thick at a pre-fight information convention the place Nurmagomedov was unwilling to attend for McGregor, who was late. A professional-McGregor crowd solely incensed Nurmagomedov, who answered inquiries about his opponent, the bus assault and reiterated that this was much less about defending his title and extra about defeating his opponent.
“Actually for me, that is greater than defending my title. For me, it is greater than combat for the title, greater than major occasion. For me, it is private. Actually, for me it is private,” Nurmagomedov mentioned. “In fact that is greatest combat in UFC historical past and we’ll break document numbers … however for me it is private.”
Nurmagomedov departed earlier than McGregor arrived, however that did not cease the Irishman from holding courtroom for his followers, trashing the champion and making it clear that it was additionally private.
“There’s means deeper s— than only a combat on Saturday evening,” McGregor mentioned. “I will settle this the noble means for myself after which see what occurs after that … f— peace. There’ll by no means be peace right here. I at all times say it’s best to purpose for peace however if you cannot purpose for peace, purpose between the eyes. I am gonna to purpose proper between that man’s eyes and that is by no means over. By no means, ever, ever over.”
It was a precursor to one of many ugliest scenes to happen at a UFC occasion within the promotion’s historical past.
When the 2 lastly met within the Octagon at UFC 229, Nurmagomedov took out his frustrations on McGregor and dominated him along with his trademark wrestling earlier than forcing the Irishman to faucet out to a neck crank within the fourth spherical. Despite the fact that an emphatic assertion was made relating to who the dominant fighter was, Nurmagomedov wasn’t fairly by with McGregor and his workforce.
The Dagestan fighter turned his consideration to Staff McGregor and engaged in a verbal tirade earlier than scaling the cage and launching himself at McGregor’s coaching associate, Dillon Danis. An unsightly melee ensued with fights happening inside and outside the Octagon. Three members of Staff Nurmagomedov jumped into the Octagon to assault McGregor earlier than the Las Vegas Metro police detained these concerned within the incident.
McGregor was fined $50,000 and acquired a six-month suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Fee for his function within the brawl. Regardless of the entire ugliness, the occasion cemented McGregor because the UFC’s greatest star as UFC 229 set data with an attendance of 20,034 followers for a dwell gate of $17.2 million — the very best ever for an MMA occasion in Nevada — whereas additionally netting a reported 2.4 million PPV buys, the most important for any MMA combat. Nonetheless, the injury has been finished to McGregor’s aura as the most effective fighter on the planet. And people closest to him had a front-row seat to witness McGregor’s fall from grace.
“He had a dream in his life to grow to be one thing,” McGregor coach Colin Byrne mentioned within the 2023 documentary “McGregor Without end.” “He bought to be the champion after which it got here with all the opposite s—. That distraction, it pulls you, it pulls you, it pulls you away from what you needed to be within the first place.
“The Khabib combat was a kick within the gap and he deserved it. There’s nothing good about any of that. All that anger and the press convention and the incident after the combat. There aren’t any winners in any of that, that is simply all hate.”
• Sept. 11, 2018: Michael Chiesa sues McGregor for an undisclosed quantity following UFC 223 bus assault, citing “severe private, financial and different damage” and “extreme emotional misery, psychological trauma and/or bodily hurt” in courtroom papers filed to Kings County Supreme Courtroom in Brooklyn, New York.
• March 11, 2019: McGregor is arrested and charged with strong-armed theft and felony mischief after attacking a fan in Miami who tried to take an image of McGregor with a cellular phone. The fees and a subsequent civil go well with are later dropped.
• March 26, 2019: The New York Occasions reviews that McGregor is beneath investigation for allegations of sexual assault at a Dublin lodge in December 2018. Shortly after the report, McGregor introduced he was retiring from MMA. That is the second time he has “retired” from MMA on social media.
• Aug. 15, 2019: TMZ publishes an April video of McGregor punching 50-year-old Desmond Keogh at The Marble Arch Pub in Dublin.
• Oct. 11, 2019: McGregor seems in courtroom for assault fees from The Marble Arch Pub incident.
• Nov. 1, 2019: McGregor pleads responsible to assault stemming from the assault on Keogh in April and fined $1,000.
On Nov. 28, 2019, the UFC introduced that McGregor would return to the Octagon at UFC 246 on Jan. 18 for a welterweight combat in opposition to Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, ending a 15-month hiatus since shedding to Nurmagomedov.
“Conor desires to combat 3 times this yr,” White informed ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “He is hoping he can flip proper round and combat Khabib, however that timing is not going to work out. However Conor thinks the way in which Conor thinks. He is considering, ‘I will combat Cowboy, I will beat Cowboy and I will be able to combat Khabib at 155 kilos.
“Conor is in line subsequent [for Khabib Nurmagomedov] if he beats Cowboy.”
Followers and fighters questioned how McGregor may very well be in line for a rematch with Nurmagomedov if he had beforehand fought at welterweight. White cited the primary combat between McGregor and Nurmagomedov, and what the Irish fighter had finished for the game as the explanation he would leapfrog different potential opponents. McGregor can also be reportedly focused for a combat with then-BMF champion Jorge Masvidal at welterweight for the BMF title if he couldn’t land the Nurmagomedov combat.
The buildup to the combat contrasts his fights with Nurmagomedov and Mayweather, as McGregor is civil and complimentary of his opponent.
“For me, that is the suitable approach to go a few combat,” McGregor mentioned in an interview with ESPN.
Throughout combat week, McGregor continued to be complimentary of his opponent.
“As time has gone on, he is grow to be a household man and also you guys have seen him compete so many instances,” McGregor mentioned on the pre-fight information convention. “It is laborious to not respect Donald proper now, at this stage. He has my respect. Though there can be blood spilled on January 18, it is not going to be dangerous blood.”
Even with out the vitriolic rivalry heading into the combat, McGregor put collectively certainly one of his most interesting performances and dismantled Cerrone in 40 seconds. It is his final win within the Octagon to this point.
McGregor would not goal a particular opponent within the post-fight interview, however White is eager to make a combat with the winner of the light-weight title bout between Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson at UFC 249.
“After tonight, and with how Khabib received the primary time and the way well-known Khabib has grow to be after that first combat, we’re taking a look at Hagler vs. Hearns, Ali vs. Foreman, Ali vs. Frazier,” White mentioned after the combat. “This can be a huge combat with international enchantment, it is the combat to make, it is the combat that is smart.”
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic would alter any plans the UFC and the combat world might have had.
On March 16, 2020, Dana White introduced that the UFC will postpone their subsequent three occasions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. McGregor is on lockdown in Eire and his coach, John Kavanagh, mentioned an April return for the previous two-division champion will not occur.
McGregor’s future is up within the air. And with nothing however idle time on his palms, he is pressured to attend till the world kinds itself out.
The world, particularly White, kinds out a rematch combat between McGregor and Dustin Poirier. The 2 fought beforehand at UFC 178 in 2014, leading to a TKO victory for McGregor.
As soon as once more, McGregor’s tone is uplifting to his opponent.
“After that loss many, a few years in the past he rose up and have become a champion,” McGregor mentioned on the UFC 257 pre-fight information convention. “He is given a lot again and I am honored to share the Octagon with this man. I do know now we have this aggressive hearth and it is nonetheless there … it’ll be a firework-filled bout, however the respect is admirable for this man from me.”
It was additionally introduced that McGregor had agreed to donate to Poirier’s “The Good Combat Basis” charity. The Irishman additionally reiterated his need to compete.
“I really feel like I am solely beginning,” McGregor mentioned on the UFC 257 pre-fight information convention. “Everybody says ‘Hey Conor, you’ve got finished all of it. You are so wealthy. What are you doing right here?’ Am I not allowed right here? I need to be right here and carry out for the followers. …All the cash, all of the belts, that comes and goes. Are you aware what lives on? Highlights.”
However the spotlight of this evening belonged to Poirier, as he avenged his loss by knocking out McGregor within the second spherical. McGregor blamed the inactivity for the loss, because it was solely his second combat since 2018.
• June 7, 2020: McGregor retires … once more. Though the UFC has managed to get again to work placing on occasions — albeit with out followers — there isn’t a readability on when McGregor will return to motion.
• Sept. 10, 2020: McGregor is arrested on the French island of Corsica on suspicion of sexual assault and indecent publicity for an alleged incident at a bar. He’s launched with out cost two days later.
FOLLOWING THE KNOCKOUT loss to Poirier, critics questioned whether or not this new, kinder model of McGregor misplaced the will to compete on the highest degree. Folks needed the previous McGregor again.
“Most individuals combat to get out of the monetary burdens that they’re going by,” McGregor’s putting coach, Owen Roddy, mentioned within the “McGregor Without end” documentary. “Conor has finished that. Most traditional folks can be like, ‘I’ve made all my cash and there isn’t any actual have to combat once more. However I believe the distinction with Conor is that he desires to show it extra so to himself that he is the baddest man on the planet.”
For higher or worse, the previous Conor McGregor was again.
On April 2, 2021, a rubber match between McGregor and Poirier was booked for UFC 264 on July 10. Whereas the earlier assembly noticed a cordial construct between the 2 combatants, the leadup to the trilogy bout was something however. The donation from McGregor to Poirier’s nonprofit was by no means acquired and led to a verbal jousting that took a flip for the more serious heading into the grudge match. McGregor hearkened again to the buildups earlier than the Mayweather and Nurmagomedov fights and hurled insults at Poirier and his spouse, even threatening to drag out of the combat.
However that anger and trash discuss had little impact on Poirier. McGregor discovered himself on the incorrect facet of Poirier’s ground-and-pound early in a gap spherical that seemed to be a continuation of their earlier combat. As soon as the combat bought again to the toes with seconds left within the spherical, McGregor took an ill-fated step backward and collapsed to the canvas. His decrease left leg twisted beneath his weight as he broke his left tibia.
The combat was stopped and Poirier was awarded the win by way of TKO attributable to a physician stoppage. Contemplating that Poirier was in management till the tip, many believed that McGregor’s finest years had been behind him, because it was the primary time he had misplaced consecutive fights in his lauded profession.
2:16
McGregor injures leg in Spherical 1, Poirier wins by TKO
Dustin Poirier wins the trilogy by TKO vs. Conor McGregor by way of a physician’s stoppage after he injured his decrease tibia in Spherical 1.
• July 11, 2021: McGregor has surgical procedure for his fractured tibia and fibula. McGregor takes to social media to announce that he’ll “construct again” after six weeks of crutches. White suggests a fourth combat with Poirier is probably going after McGregor recovers.
• Sept. 12, 2021: McGregor will get into an altercation with rapper Machine Gun Kelly on the purple carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Heart. McGregor throws a punch at Kelly however misses.
• Oct. 16, 2021: Italian musician and TV presenter Francesco Facchinetti claims that McGregor punched him whereas at a nightclub in Rome. Facchinetti says that McGregor broke his nostril and filed fees in opposition to the MMA fighter a couple of days later.
• Nov. 22, 2021: McGregor says he is preventing for the light-weight title on social media forward of champion Charles Oliveira’s protection in opposition to Dustin Poirier at UFC 269 on Dec. 11.
• Jan. 12, 2022: McGregor’s pub, The Black Forge Inn, is focused with petrol bombs. There have been no accidents or property injury.
• March 18, 2022: McGregor turns his consideration to welterweight and points a problem to Kamaru Usman for the UFC welterweight title.
• March 22, 2022: McGregor is arrested in Dublin for six driving offenses (together with two counts of harmful driving) and has his Bentley seized by police. He is later launched on bail.
0:36
Chandler recounts early assembly with Conor McGregor
Michael Chandler explains the uncomfortable environment surrounding an early assembly with Conor McGregor.
DESPITE MCGREGOR LOSING consecutive fights for the primary time in his MMA profession, the attract and monetary upside of going through the Irishman ensures he could have no scarcity of opponents if and when he returns to motion. Nonetheless, one explicit fighter will get McGregor’s consideration: Michael Chandler.
The previous Bellator light-weight champion signed with the UFC in September 2020 and rapidly made a reputation for himself by handing over a collection of thrilling performances in each victory and defeat. His 2021 Combat of the 12 months efficiency in opposition to Justin Gaethje cements his standing as some of the thrilling fighters within the promotion and his brutal entrance kick knockout of Tony Ferguson at UFC 274 on Might 7, 2022, formally put him on McGregor’s radar.
After calling for fights with Gaethje and then-lightweight champion Oliveira throughout his post-fight interview, Chandler planted his flag for what he needed subsequent.
“If Dana White and Hunter Campbell have a momentary lapse of judgment and provides the title shot to another person, I bought one dude on my thoughts — Conor McGregor!” Chandler mentioned. “You’ve got to come back again and combat any person. I’m essentially the most entertaining light-weight on the planet. However I need to up the stakes, Conor. I would like you at your greatest, I would like you at your baddest and I would like you at your finest. “
In contrast to different McGregor callouts, this one will get the eye of the Irishman and he promptly responds on social media, entertaining the thought of a combat between the 2.
But when there’s one factor for certain about Conor McGregor, it is that nothing is for certain about Conor McGregor. He spent the following a number of months chasing fights with Islam Makhachev, Poirier and Nurmagomedov on social media.
On Feb. 4, 2023, the UFC introduced that McGregor would return and coach reverse Chandler for “The Final Fighter” season 31 with the intention that McGregor and Chandler will finally meet within the Octagon. McGregor beforehand coached TUF in 2015 in opposition to Urijah Faber, however no combat between the 2 commenced. Nonetheless, there’s optimism that McGregor will make his return to the UFC following the taping.
“At this stage, it is not likely about profitable or shedding anymore,” Byrne mentioned within the “McGregor Without end” documentary. “The preventing is a really small a part of it. It is actually solely one thing we do for 10 minutes. It is the remainder of the months, weeks, years that — it is not likely about preventing. It is about what he can do as a drive on the planet. He is bought a platform to do nice or do dangerous.”
• Might 11, 2022: After being ranked because the world’s highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2021, McGregor is absent from the 2022 listing.
• August 2022: McGregor lands the function of the villain Knox within the “Street Home” remake.
• Sept. 10, 2022: With no combat lined up, McGregor says the trilogy with Nate Diaz “will occur” after Diaz finishes Tony Ferguson within the final combat of Diaz’s UFC contract.
• Nov. 22, 2022: McGregor is sued by former good friend and coaching associate Artem Lobov for unpaid proceeds from the sale of Correct Twelve.
• Dec. 3, 2022: McGregor settles lawsuit with Michael Chiesa from the bus incident 4 years prior for an undisclosed quantity.
• Dec. 12, 2022: A second lawsuit is filed from a former good friend over the Correct Twelve sale.
• Jan. 11, 2023: McGregor misses an Eire courtroom look for harmful driving because of the flu.
• Jan. 24, 2023: An Irish girl alleges in July 2022 that McGregor assaulted her on his yacht in Ibiza, Spain. She alleges McGregor punched her and threatened to drown her at a celebration in July on his boat throughout a celebration for McGregor. The girl additionally alleges that she jumped off the yacht to get away from McGregor, breaking her arm within the course of. McGregor denies the allegations by his legal professional. Days earlier than the declare, the girl’s automobile was set on hearth by unknown assailants.
• Feb. 23, 2023: The civil go well with for the McGregor yacht assault is dropped by the girl.
0:20
McGregor completely elated after his fighter wins by vicious KO
Conor McGregor does a lap exterior the Octagon in pure delight after Rico DiSciullo notches an enormous knockout to earn Staff McGregor its first win.
‘THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER’ concludes on Aug. 15, 2023, and Staff McGregor is completely dominated by Staff Chandler. McGregor’s workforce can solely muster one win out of eight fights within the bantamweight and light-weight quarterfinals. Furthermore, McGregor makes sporadic appearances on the present, making promotion for a possible bout between the 2 coaches extra totally different. The finale teases a combat between McGregor and Chandler, however no date is about.
The largest hurdle that forestalls McGregor from competing is the US Anti-Doping Company, as he had but to reenter the testing pool required to compete after his leg damage in 2021.
USADA requires {that a} fighter return to the testing pool for at least six months and cross two drug assessments earlier than returning to the Octagon. McGregor returned to the testing pool on Oct. 8, 2023, however controversy quickly adopted.
Shortly after McGregor’s announcement, USADA introduced that their eight-year partnership with the UFC would finish after 2023. USADA CEO Travis Tygart launched a press release questioning the UFC’s motivations for ending their partnership and inferred that McGregor’s difficult scenario was chief among the many causes.
USADA clarified their rule would apply to all athletes and Tygart urged to ESPN that McGregor’s incapability to discover a workaround to the rule “clearly upset [the UFC] and that is what led to the about-face.”
McGregor pushed again on the concept he would want to spend six months within the testing pool and urged that he ought to solely cross two drug assessments earlier than being allowed to compete. USADA was unwilling to bend, inflicting White to publicly blast USADA in an interview with TSN.
The UFC remained steadfast that McGregor’s scenario was not why the connection ended and urged that the one purpose the connection lasted so long as it did was as a result of USADA was the one sport on the town.
On the finish of 2023, the UFC introduced the main points for the brand new UFC Anti-Doping Coverage (UFC ADP) that went into impact on Dec. 31, 2023. Within the interim, McGregor remained in the midst of a number of authorized points.
Conor McGregor KO’d the Warmth mascot 😅 #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/IRAKzuMKp2
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 10, 2023
• April 29, 2023: McGregor attends a Naked Knuckle Combating Championship occasion and faces off with Mike Perry after his major occasion win over Luke Rockhold. 4 days later, McGregor teases pulling up in a yacht at WWE’s SummerSlam. Curiosity is piqued relating to whether or not McGregor intends to compete within the UFC once more.
• June 9, 2023: McGregor is concerned in a skit at halftime of Recreation 4 of the NBA Finals the place he is to punch Miami Warmth mascot Burnie. McGregor takes issues too far after punching the mascot when he delivers a second blow to the fallen Burnie. The person contained in the costume is taken to the emergency room for accidents sustained within the incident.
• June 11, 2023: McGregor was accused of sexually assaulting a girl contained in the VIP restroom on the Kaseya Heart at Recreation 4 of the NBA Finals in Miami. The girl claims McGregor “aggressively kissed her” earlier than making an attempt to drive her into a number of sexual acts. McGregor denies the allegation by his legal professional.
• Aug. 20, 2023: McGregor pronounces on social media, “They don’t seem to be going to let me combat in 2023,” and appears towards 2024 for his Octagon return.
• Oct. 17, 2023: Costs are dropped within the Miami Warmth sexual assault case attributable to inadequate proof.
• Dec. 31, 2023: McGregor posts a video on X saying the combat with Chandler will occur on June 29 at 185 kilos, the very best weight McGregor has competed at. There isn’t a affirmation from the UFC.
• March 19, 2024: McGregor says “all techniques go” for the combat with Chandler. There isn’t a affirmation from the UFC.
• March 21, 2024: The remake of “Street Home” that includes McGregor is launched.
1:07
Dana White pronounces Conor McGregor’s UFC return vs. Michael Chandler
Dana White breaks the information that Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon to face Michael Chandler in the primary occasion of UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas.
AT THE UFC 300 post-fight information convention, White discreetly unfolds a bit of paper and pronounces that McGregor-Chandler will happen at UFC 303 throughout Worldwide Combat Week on June 29 at T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. No grandiose video package deal through the PPV or something noteworthy of a celebratory second. Slightly than jubilation, a collective sigh of reduction sweeps over the MMA group earlier than the thrill lastly units in about McGregor’s potential return after practically three years away.
Because the construct to UFC 303 begins, McGregor seemingly stays out of hassle whereas including to his monetary portfolio. McGregor is introduced as an element proprietor of MMA promotion Naked Knuckle Combating Championships. For essentially the most half, McGregor’s exercise on his personal social media displays a person lastly able to compete.
On the finish of Might, the UFC introduced {that a} information convention for the combat will happen in Eire on the 3Arena. It sells out in beneath 5 minutes, signaling the immense urge for food for fight sports activities’ greatest star to make his return. White boasted that UFC 303 had already reached a $20 million gate and can be the primary occasion to prime that quantity within the promotion’s historical past.
However lower than 24 hours earlier than McGregor is about to look earlier than his countrymen, the UFC introduced that the information convention was canceled with no clarification. Chandler remained optimistic, however the silence from the UFC and McGregor signaled hassle on the horizon.
“The place we’re proper now, there’s lots of hypothesis, however the combat is on,” Chandler mentioned on “The Pivot Podcast” on June 7.
Pessimism shifted to optimism as video surfaced on social media of McGregor coaching. However that optimism nosedived on June 11 when Ariel Helwani reported that UFC 303 was “very a lot in limbo” and that the promotion was frantically pursuing a alternative for the primary occasion.
McGregor had by no means pulled out of a combat attributable to damage and it had been nicely documented that he routinely entered the Octagon hampered by numerous impairments.
After weeks of hypothesis and strange radio silence, White posted a video from the Conflict Room at UFC headquarters to substantiate everybody’s worst fears.
For the primary time in his profession, McGregor is pressured out of a combat attributable to an damage — a damaged toe he later pronounces on social media.
The UFC rapidly pulled collectively a alternative major occasion combat between mild heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and former champion Jiří Procházka as a part of a main overhaul to the combat card. However make no mistake, this isn’t a Conor McGregor-led occasion.
“While you’re in right here, should you put within the time in right here, you are gonna get cozy in right here,” mentioned McGregor after his loss to Poirier at UFC 257. “I want exercise. You aren’t getting away with being inactive on this enterprise, and that is the way in which it’s.
“I will take me licks.”
With no exercise and all of the licks being taken, the enterprise of McGregor as soon as once more appears stalled out.