Chael Sonnen still believes the most important part of Conor McGregor’s comeback is Conor McGregor.
“The Notorious” remains one of the biggest names on the UFC roster, but has not actually stepped into the octagon since July 2021 at UFC 264, where he broke his leg and lost a trilogy bout with longtime rival Dustin Poirier. Since that time, McGregor has teased a return to competition on multiple occasions, even being booked to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 before withdrawing due to injury, but the 37-year-old rapidly approaches five years without a fight.
As with everything McGregor, there is plenty of speculation as to which fighter might welcome him back to action, with names like Jorge Masvidal, Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, and Nate Diaz frequently being mentioned. Diaz recently claimed the UFC offered for him to meet McGregor in a trilogy bout, but he turned it down to instead fight Mike Perry at the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano event.
Whatever the truth is, Sonnen thinks it doesn’t really matter because McGregor will sell out any arena and draw massive viewership whoever his opponent turns out to be.
“We just don’t know quite where the UFC is going,” Sonnen said on YouTube. “We’re getting the idea that they’re not going to do that—By example, no to Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano. Openly saying, ‘It just doesn’t take us anywhere. They’re going to come out, it’s a one-off, it’s a one night, I need them to then come back and take this and go with somebody else.’ But I could argue that Conor and Nate would also be one night and fun, and I think it’s appropriate. Jorge Masvidal has said that he’s coming back. Jorge Masvidal has entered the pool and they accepted him. I don’t think Jorge is coming back only because that’s just not the kind of fight that the UFC is making. But now that we get the information that Nate was offered Conor, all of a sudden it does change things.
“I mean, Masvidal-McGregor is the one that got away from us. If you want to talk about just a huge fight at a period of time that would have been the biggest fight the industry could have made at a time, it was that one. Now, Conor’s in a unique spot. ‘Red Panty Night’ is still real. Conor can be in there with Ian Garry. Conor can be in there with Max Holloway. Conor McGregor could be in there with your neighbor, it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. They’ve only got so many tickets and they’re going to sell them all. So who should Conor be booked against?”
Not only has McGregor not fought since 2021, he has just one win since 2016, a 40-second knockout of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. McGregor once loomed large as one of the most consistent box office draws in all of combat sports, but his reputation has been tarnished by in-cage failings and outside-of-the-cage transgressions. The latter includes McGregor being found liable for sexual assault in November 2024 in relation to an incident that occurred in Dublin in 2018.
Still, McGregor appears to be primed to finally fight for the UFC again, and Sonnen predicts he could be given a relevant name, even possibly a current welterweight contender.
“I have a feeling that Conor’s going to get dealt right from the bottom of the deck,” Sonnen said. “I have a feeling they’re going to throw an ace on the table because Conor is willing to do it. I have a feeling he’s going to fight Ian Garry or an Ian Garry type. But one thing with Conor, he doesn’t have any heat with anybody right now. Now, he can create it overnight, and the boys from Dagestan and Conor McGregor are never going to get it right, but he doesn’t really have heat with these, he’s been out for five years and he’s been doing the bare-knuckle thing.
“It’s one of these things where if you could find a Nate Diaz, which by the way, if Nate Diaz was the guy offered Conor McGregor, he’s going to do the Perry thing, but Conor doesn’t get booked at the White House, all of a sudden the calendar might line up where we do go back to Nate. Go ‘Hey, you didn’t like that idea a couple of months ago, what do you think about it now?’ That would be fun.”
Sonnen thinks that even though the UFC can do anything they want with McGregor and likely see a significant financial return, it’s possible the voices of the fans could influence their decision when it comes to matching him up.
“I would like this conversation to start much like we had to encourage the UFC ‘keep that BMF thing around, we’re into that,’” Sonnen said. “I think we need to kind of start to push. We’re into that, right guys? We’re into these elite, these legends, these special, these guys that can do cameos and make a building erupt. We’re into those guys being around and you don’t have to go in that direction, you could put Conor with anybody. But who would anybody be?”
Rankings. Israel Adesanya, no longer a top 10 middleweight???
Beef. Nate Diaz took a few random shots at Daniel Cormier’s fighting style, and Cormier responded by putting Diaz’s credentials into question.
Jiu-jitsu. Virna Jandiroba thinks fan backlash against grappling dominance is “sad and absurd.”
Busy. Arman Tsarukyan is back at RAF, this time wrestling UFC legend Urijah Faber.
Test. Raul Rosas Jr. is stepping up to fight former UFC champion Deiveson Figueiredo (in grappling, of course).
Laughs. Here’s all of Wednesday’s “hilarious” combat sports April Fool’s Day gags in one place for you sickos out there.
Pros pick the UFC 327 co-main event.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
The definitive fight week schedule.
Darren Till wants in on the Diaz drama.
Never forget the best April Fool’s joke ever (cries)
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Raul Rosas Jr. (grappling); Hype Brazil, April 8
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Urijah Faber (wrestling); RAF 8, April 18
Shamil Gaziev (14-2) vs. Brando Pericic (6-1); UFC Perth, May 2
Jonathan Micallef (9-1) vs. Themba Gorimbo (14-6); UFC Perth, May 2
Colby Thicknesse (8-1) vs. Vince Morales (16-10); UFC Perth, May 2
I’m going to leave it to Dominick Reyes to sum up what we’re all thinking:
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