Speculation has surrounded Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon ever since the Irishman left the UFC on a stretcher back in July 2021. Almost two years later, McGregor is all but confirmed to be facing Michael Chandler as the pair coach opposite teams on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, but no date has been announced as yet.
UFC commentator and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping took to his YouTube channel to offer an inside opinion on the matter.
UFC Commentator Michael Bisping Predicts Date for Michael Chandler vs Conor McGregor
“In terms of a timeline, what are we in now? May, so six months you can fight at the end of the year. I think the idea was Madison Square Garden, that’s going to be Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, judging by what everybody has been saying online.
So the final card of the year [in December 2023], at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, they still have seven months for that, so McGregor just has to get in the testing pool. He’s got to get off whatever he is on. He’s got to get off the good stuff and get back on the protein shakes and the porridge.”
The “good stuff” in question is the widespread speculation that McGregor has indulged in performance enhancing drugs during his time off. McGregor has packed on noticeable mass in the last two years, and has been absent from the USADA pool which tests for PED use in athletes.
Of course, another aspect of McGregor’s approach to the fight is his infamous trash talk, which over the course of a full season of television will likely be in full swing.
“One thing he has been doing is, he has been winning the mind games with Michael Chandler. I mean, yeah he pushed him by the throat, grabbed him, whatever. That’s never a good sign when someone loses their temper like that, good promotion though.
There was that clip doing the rounds where they’re in the gym, and McGregor says, ‘What weight do you want to do it on. We’re fighting at 185,’ and then Chandler said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it at 185, and then McGregor says, ‘You’ll do what you’re told,’ and then just walked off, and Chandler didn’t say anything back, it’s like dude, you have to speak up!
You can’t let someone dictate the terms like that!” If McGregor makes his Octagon return in time for Christmas, he may also just slip into USADA’s six-month time frame for testing.
