Conor McGregor teases ‘new date’ for comeback fight

Conor McGregor is still on the comeback trail.

This past Saturday, McGregor was supposed to fight Michael Chandler in the main event of UFC 303, but the bout was removed from the card due to McGregor suffering a toe injury. Since then, both fighters have been active on social media discussing their future plans and McGregor provided an update Monday, hinting at a “new date.”

“Real recognize real,” McGregor wrote. “Excited to secure my new date.”

In his comment, McGregor gave credit to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who stepped up on short notice alongside Jiri Prochazka and went on to defeat Prochazka with an incredible head kick knockout in the new UFC 303 main event. During fight week, Pereira defended McGregor’s decision to pull out of the bout.

When McGregor announced the reason for his withdrawal from the June 29 pay-per-view, he did not give a timetable for his return, later commenting that he will never fight again unless he is 100 percent healthy. Chandler has said on multiple occasions that he will wait for the McGregor fight, a bout that he has been pursuing for years and has been closely tied to since at least mid-2023 when he and McGregor served as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 31.

Prior to McGregor’s most recent tweets, Chandler claimed that he had been offered a bout with lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for October, but would be willing to face McGregor at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Makhachev shut down Chandler’s claim in brutal fashion, calling the three-time Bellator champion “unreliable” and adding that if the McGregor matchup comes around again “you’ll run away.”

Chandler also caught a shot from Dustin Poirier when he tried to make light of Makhachev passing on a rematch with “The Diamond.” Makhachev defeated Poirier at UFC 302 and Poirier has made it unclear whether he plans to fight again.

He had fighting words for Chandler though.

“Choked your ass out, and you haven’t fought since,” Poirier wrote.

Poirier is the most recent opponent for both Chandler and McGregor. He submitted Chandler at UFC 281 in November 2022, and beat McGregor at UFC 264 in July 2021 when McGregor suffered a broken leg in their fight. That injury has played a major part in McGregor being sidelined for the past three years.