Conor McGregor's UFC contract explained as star faces comeback delay

09 February 2024 , 14:31

836     0

Conor McGregor's UFC contract explained as star faces comeback delay

Details of Conor McGregor's current UFC deal have come to light as he faces yet another delay to his comeback fight.

Former two-weight world champion McGregor hasn't fought in over two and a half years but is expected to make his return against Michael Chandler later this year. Their fight was announced over a year ago but has faced several pushbacks as UFC boss Dana White recently admitted the matchup is unlikely to take place until autumn

McGregor signed his last UFC contract in the autumn of 2018, just before his mega-fight against bitter rival Khabib Nurmagomedov. It's understood the Irishman has two fights left on his deal, which has a five-year expiration date. This meant it should have expired last year, although this could have been pushed back by a year as McGregor was ineligible to compete in the octagon after dropping out of the USADA drug-testing pool.

Do you think Conor McGregor will fight this year? Let us know in the comments section below

McGregor re-entered the testing pool last October but the UFC ended their relationship with USADA at the end of December. The UFC legend moved one step closer to his comeback fight last month by providing two samples to Drug Free Sport, the promotion's new drug testing programme that began overseeing fighters at the start of this year.

Logan Paul and KSI announce new partnership with UFC president Dana White

Just days before White gave a new date for McGregor's fight, he vented his frustration towards the promotion by writing on Instagram: "Get this f****ng date set". Fans have started to lose patience with both McGregor and the UFC over his delay as one user wrote told McGregor he should leave the promotion.

Chandler hasn't fought in over a year and plans to take his anger out on McGregor by sending him into retirement when they finally fight. "I finish Conor within the first two rounds and after that, probably end his career,” Chandler said on his YouTube channel. “There’s just so much more than what people think about on the surface level.

"I want battlegrounds of epic proportions, I want to stand in the cage with that man, I want to break that man’s will, I want to break his jaw. I want to separate him from consciousness, completely flatline him inside the octagon, and then we say farewell to the sport’s biggest star. Then we can go about our merry way."

Harry Davies