It is finally here. Conor McGregor, the biggest superstar in the history of mixed martial arts, is back at it, doing what he does best- talking trash and creating hype, this time for his clash against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 next month. The former UFC two-division champion was out of action for the past three years! He was recovering from a potentially career-ending broken leg that horrified everyone watching at UFC 264 back in 2021. But, even before this injury, he had been very inconsistent, fighting only four times in the past six years.

These long periods of inactivity seem to have done him no good since he lost all but one of those fights, with this inactivity correlating with what many feel is a distinct decline in his abilities as a fighter. And Chael Sonnen thinks not only has McGregor made a mistake by not being more active, but also chided the UFC for underutilizing the fighter.

Sonnen finds fault with how the UFC handled Conor McGregor

Verbose UFC analyst and former superstar Chael Sonnen, while discussing Conor McGregor’s wish to fight three times this year, commented on how he had been almost mishandled by the UFC. ‘The Notorious’, in a recent interview, revealed that he was aiming to fight three times this year, including the one at UFC 303 on June 29 against Michael Chandler. In addition, he reiterated his wish to fight at UFC 306 at the Sphere on September 14, as well as in December ’24.

Sonnen thinks Dana White and the UFC made a mistake by not having McGregor fight more than once a year when he was healthy and active. “I think if we were to look back at any mistake that we as an industry made, it’s that we didn’t take Conor up on that [McGregor wanting to stay more active]. I would think there’s always stuff behind the scenes that you don’t see or don’t know about. But I would think that that’s a mistake to not use Conor when Conor is healthy and says that he wants to do it,” added the 47-year-old while speaking on his YouTube channel.

While Sonnen felt the Irishman would not get to fight three times this year, he was critical of UFC not using the Irishman to full effect back when McGregor was in his prime and firing on all cylinders. McGregor, of course, emerged as the biggest star in the history of MMA after setting fire to the MMA world in the early and mid-2010s.

Already an iconic figure, who transcended the sport, the bombastic Irishman brought the sport to new heights and helped it break into mainstream cultural consciousness. Today, the UFC is among the four biggest sporting organizations in the country, because of McGregor, whom even Jon Jones credited with having fast-forwarded the sport by “ten years”.

Along with showing McGregor’s desire to stay active, his comments about wanting to fight three times this year have revealed and shed light on his plans, which are contrary to many theories going around.

Conor McGregor’s comments indicate he will re-sign with the UFC

Conor McGregor has two fights left on his current UFC contract. And while he may have declined in the recent past, the Irishman remains, by far the biggest, most lucrative name in the mixed martial arts. But surely the aforementioned downward slope he is on professionally must have affected his popularity somewhat. Well, no. A clear illustration of this came recently when his comeback card, UFC 303, broke the record for the highest-grossing gate in the history of the UFC and thus the entire sport of MMA.

With his contract coming to an end, and his hot-and-cold relationship with the promotion, there were certain speculations that the time for the UFC and McGregor’s parting was nigh. Earlier this month, it was announced that the Irishman has been given a minority ownership stake in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), America’s first bare-knuckle boxing promotion which has managed to create a niche for itself in less than a decade. It was felt that since McGregor was getting up in age and on a downward slope professionally, he might refuse to re-sign with the UFC or price himself out.

However, with McGregor having made clear that he would like to fight three times this year, it seems the former champion plans to continue with the UFC for the foreseeable future, at least.

Do you think McGregor can fight in September and December next following UFC 303? Drop your views in the comments below.