THE potential date for Conor McGregor’s long-overdue comeback clash with Michael Chandler has seemingly emerged.
The Irishman was due to make his cage comeback against the fellow fan favourite in June in the main event of UFC 303 in Las Vegas.
But a toe injury in one of his final sparring sessions scuppered the Return of the Mac, who hasn’t set foot inside the octagon in over three years.
McGregor, 36, recently revealed to SunSport that he liked the prospect of a December return, saying: “That sounds good to me.
“That sounds good to me brother.”
The date for the UFC’s final pay-per-view card of the year was a mystery when McGregor revealed his plans, although that’s no longer the case.
MMA‘s top promotion announced last weekend it will close out its PPV calendar with UFC 310 on December 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
UFC President and CEO Dana White, however, recently cast doubt over McGregor headlining the card, saying: “We didn’t meet up but we talked, and yeah, [McGregor] wants to fight.
“So we’ll figure it out. [But] not this year. He won’t fight this year.”
That prompted a fired-up McGregor to tweet: “Ah Dana. December is the date!
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With more sides to his personality than an Octagon, Conor McGregor's rise has been an enthralling watch.
Going from UFC icon to entrepreneur and Hollywood star, the Irishman has transcended the sport he helped bring to the masses.
He has four children with fiancee Dee Devlin and the family enjoy a lavish lifestyle.
McGregor has not fought in UFC since breaking his leg in a trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier in 2021.
That has not stopped him amassing a net worth of over £150m thanks to his Proper No Twelve whiskey and fashion line.
And he is due to return to the Octagon at UFC 303 in an eagerly-awaited headline clash with Michael Chandler.
McGregor also starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the Amazon Prime remake of classic movie Road House, although he is dreading his mum seeing one X-rated scene.
Notorious turned up to the premiere in a £60,000 suit that was outdone by his £460k watch.
The only thing sharper than his fashion sense is his tongue and the Dubliner has several bitter spats under his belt, including with UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov.
That row led to one of his biggest controversies in 2018 as he travelled 3,000 miles to confront Khabib in a vicious attack on his bus.
He pleaded guilty to assault after punching a man in a pub in 2018 and had his £150k Bentley seized by police for driving offences four years later.
Joe Rogan lashed out at McGregor in a four-letter outburst and the Irishman has also fired shots at Jake Paul, KSI and Tommy Fury.
Boxing great Floyd Mayweather also has McGregor on his enemy list after the pair clashed in a cross-sport bout in 2017.
Read all of our latest Conor McGregor stories.
“Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this?
“I am off to altitude next month to prepare. December. Tell Dana and UFC we want December! We deserve December.”
White has since performed a U-turn on the prospect of McGregor vs Chandler topping the UFC 310 bill.
He said: “I don’t know what Chandler’s planning on doing.
“I know he’s kind of kicking around right now.
“You know, you can imagine after I said that, Conor was blowing me up, going, ‘I’ll definitely fight this year.’
“When we get to a point where we’re setting a fight and I believe that a Conor McGregor fight is going to happen, I will announce it.
“As of right now, I believe that Conor will not fight this year.
“Conor’s saying he wants to fight, he wants to fight in December. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Former two-division champion McGregor hasn’t set foot inside the octagon since breaking his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier over three years ago.
