Conor McGregor isn’t just coming back to fight in July; he already knows when his next fight will be, too.
Next month, McGregor returns to the cage after a five-year layoff, taking on Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But McGregor’s return is not just a one-and-done. “Notorious” revealed to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday that after UFC 329, he will have one fight left on his UFC deal, and he already has a date for that fight.
“Right now, I am contracted, and I have both dates,” McGregor said. “I have both dates for my fight. I have July 11 — when would you think they would put me back in? April, 2027! It’s almost a year later! That’s ridiculous to me!”
When asked why the plan was for such a long layoff, again, McGregor simply stated it’s “the way the contract was done.” And it’s obvious that, if he had his druthers, McGregor would have two fights in 2026.
“I don’t care who the opponent is. Give it to me at the end of the year,” McGregor said. “July, end of year. Boom. Let’s go to a new deal. And then f*cking April. How many weeks in a year? 50-f*cking-2. So 52 fights, a fight a week. I want to get going here, and I hope to get going. Please, God, I fancy it. I fancy my ability to do it.”
But while McGregor may want to “get going,” it may not be in the UFC. The former two-division champion said he intended to test out free agency at the conclusion of his contract unless the promotion offered him an “unbelievable deal,” though he maintained that he’d like to stay with the UFC if possible.
“I’m happy, to an extent,” McGregor said. “There’s a lot more there. I hope it’s with the UFC. I hope we come to something. I hope I get honored even more. I’m going to prove even more so what I’m about.
“It wasn’t that difficult [to come to these terms],” McGregor added. “We met in the middle. Was it what my worth is? Probably not. Was it what they wanted to offer, or what they offered? Definitely not. We met in the middle. I’m a fair operator. So that’s how I operate. I love the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and I’d love to continue. Let’s see how it goes.”
For now, though, McGregor has enough to concern himself with. “Notorious” is fighting for the first time in five years, and he intends to put on a show next month, and then worry about the rest of it.
“I have July 11,” McGregor said. “It’s only around the corner. That’s positivity, happiness. I don’t want to go too much into all of that. I’ve got the fight, I’ve got the date, I feel great. Bring it on, baby. ‘The Mac’ is back! And I’m going to put on a show in this fight! This is a martial arts delight, this bout. This is a fan-favorite, iconic bout.”
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