Conor McGregor’s UFC return has been on everyone’s mind for the majority part of this decade. “The Notorious” suffered a leg injury in July 2021, marking the last time he fought inside the UFC octagon. 3 years later he still hasn’t made a return. June 29th was supposed to be the double champ’s big return. Michael Chandler vs Conor McGregor was all set to headline UFC 303 in Las Vegas. That was until McGregor pulled out of the matchup 2 weeks before the fight.
With speculations flying all around about the basis on which McGregor pulled out of the fight, the man himself decided to clear up the air. On June 21, McGregor released a video on Social Media where he showed his fractured Pinky Toe. The fracture is what made him opt out of his big UFC return.
Following this revelation, McGregor’s long-time rival Khabib’s childhood friend and current Lightweight UFC Champion, Islam Makhachev took shots at Conor on social media. The 155-lbs Champion tweeted about Conor’s injury, saying, “You don’t need a pinkie toe for a fight lol. Chicken🐔”
Islam didn’t stop there though. He went on to take shots at Michael Chandler as well. Makhachev tweeted, “And my condolences to Michael ‘Hachiko’ Chandler 😀”. Hachiko, for those who don’t know, is a dog breed that is known for showing the utmost loyalty to their owners. Islam hinted at Chandler being Conor’s pet for waiting almost 3 years for this fight.
Conor has repeatedly talked about his return to MMA and is for sure not going anywhere soon. While he surely will make his comeback against Chandler, who knows what awaits him next? The Khabib fight has left Conor with a psychological imprint that has been seen quite evidently in the past. And Conor might go a long way to get back at Khabib. Even as far as picking a fight with Islam to look and get back at Khabib.
With Islam clearing up the lightweight divisions one by one, soon he’ll try to move up or down in divisions. If he does move up a division, Conor McGregor would be a matchup written in destiny. While this thought is still quite far-fetched as of now, UFC has produced even crazier and unthinkable matchups in the past.
The UFC fandom would surely be salivating at the thought of an Islam Makhachev vs Conor McGregor matchup and at the prospect of seeing Khabib and Conor in opposing corners yet again.
