The most lucrative question in combat sports hangs in the air like smoke after a firefight: Will Conor McGregor ever grace the UFC Octagon again? The narrative has become a yearly dance – Dana White’s promises of “this year for sure” echo with diminishing conviction, while McGregor’s social media continues to tease comebacks with the reliability of a carnival fortune teller. The former double champ himself keeps the flame of hope flickering with bold proclamations and training videos, but the fight game is starting to see through the fog of promises.

Enter Chael Sonnen, the sport’s most silver-tongued prophet, who’s been playing obituary writer to McGregor’s UFC career for months. ‘The Bad Guy’ has zeroed in on what he sees as the ultimate tell in this high-stakes poker game. The absence of a dance partner for the Irishman! In the fight game, where callouts of McGregor once came as frequently as jab combinations, the silence speaks volumes. It’s as if the sport’s biggest draw is starring in a comeback tour without a venue and for Sonnen, that’s no coincidence – it’s the smoking gun pointing to a retirement that everybody sees coming but nobody wants to admit.

“The most appropriate opponent for Conor would be Michael Chandler. And is Conor going to come back? Chandler is saying he’s not, but that doesn’t make it so. But now that we’re told that Chandler will not be available and Chandler won’t be there to fight Conor, you now start to see where it’s very clear that there’s not an opponent for Conor. And there’s not an opponent for Conor because there’s not going to be any Conor.” Sonnen said in a recent video on his YouTube channel.

Chandler, of course, waited to fight McGregor between late 2023 and mid-2024, following both men’s appearances as rival head coaches on season 31 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. But alas, that fight never materialized as ‘Mystic Mac’ pulled out of their planned UFC 303 clash last June.

‘Iron’ moved on and fought Charles Oliveira late last year, but still claimed he would be fighting McGregor whenever he came back. However, this was taken off the table after Dana White flat-out told ‘Barstool Sport’s Robbie Fox last September that the Irishman will not fight ‘Iron’ when he comes back.

And Sonnen thinks that proves ‘Mystic Mac’ is never going to fight in the UFC. But McGregor fans have something else to look forward to as Sonnen thinks the Dubliner will be fighting in a different combat sports promotion soon.

Chael Sonnen claims Conor McGregor is now free to fight in the BKFC

People do not take everything Conor McGregor says seriously. So when the Irishman, who is a minority owner of the BKFC, told reporters that he will fight in the bare-knuckle promotion soon, most just chalked it up to McGregor making bombastic, headline-worthy statements he doesn’t plan to come through on. Boy, were those people wrong?

“I just got a call from a very very inside source. Now this might be all over the websites already, maybe you guys know this. I’m driving, I just got a call, I haven’t seen it anywhere- Conor McGregor has been green-lit to compete in bare-knuckle fighting,” Sonnen said in another video on his YouTube channel recently.

As far as having an opponent, that won’t be an issue for ‘The Notorious’ in BKFC. Mike Perry, who has emerged as the biggest superstar in the sport of bare-knuckle by far seems like the only game in town for the Irishman. There is no one else in the David Feldman-led promotion (except perhaps Jeremy Stephens) who has the star power and name recognition to make a big fight with the former UFC champion. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s thoughts on Conor McGregor’s UFC future?