Will Conor McGregor ever fight again? Will he face Michael Chandler in December, as both have alluded to, after their cancelled UFC 303 bout in June?
Those questions have yet to be answered, but veteran fighter Urijah Faber is confident that “The Notorious” is far from done.
Faber, a former WEC featherweight champion who also coached a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite McGregor back in 2015, told MMA Fighting that he sees hunger in McGregor despite all the money and fame the Irishman has made throughout the years.
“For being a friend but a distant friend, someone that I feel like I’ve spent enough time on with to kind of understand, the guy wants to fight,” Faber said. “He has money, he has fame, he could easily go and just do the movie career or be a businessman or whatever, but I feel like in his heart, his identity, his passions are still to fight. I think he will fight.”
McGregor fractured his leg in a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021 and later left the USADA drug-testing pool, which delayed a potential UFC return. McGregor was finally cleared in 2024 and booked the Chandler match for UFC 303, but withdrew weeks prior with an injured pinky toe.
Faber’s teammate Chad Mendes, who once fought McGregor for the UFC interim title at UFC 189, doubts he’s ever coming back, telling MMA Fighting that McGregor “just keeps backing out.”
Faber disagrees.
“He’s in no rush, he’s going to do it on his terms, which is a great place to be,” Faber said of the constant delays. “Not many people in this world, in our world, mixed martial arts, get to be in the place he’s in, where he wears the pants. But I think he will fight because he loves to fight. I mean, that’s who he is in his heart, that’s what’s given him these opportunities. He’s still young and full of piss and vinegar, so I hope to see him fight. The MMA space always benefits when a superstar comes out and puts their neck out.”
McGregor won 10 of his first 12 UFC bouts, beating the likes of Jose Aldo, Poirier, Max Holloway, Nate Diaz, and Eddie Alvarez, but was stopped twice by Poirier in 2021. If his return is booked for December, it will be almost five years after his most recent victory — a 40-second knockout against Donald Cerrone. But Faber is impressed enough, based on the footage he’s seen of McGregor training, to pick the former champ to beat Chandler.
“If he trains correctly, I think he’ll win,” Faber said. “We actually sent him a Rollbot. If you haven’t seen it, rollbotbjj.com, it’s a company that I have. I was impressed. The Rollbot is a high-tech training dummy with neck sensors and joints that dislocate. He wanted one bad, so we sent him one out, and I was watching him on that thing — and I’m like, ‘This guy is as skilled as it gets when he goes to the ground.’ He hasn’t lost a beat, so I’d like to see him back.”
