After all the plans went in vain for Conor McGregor on June 29, his initial return date, Dana White closed the lid on a possible comeback for the Irishman in 2024. While most reports have claimed that McGregor is stalling his return, UFC legend Chael Sonnen has a different opinion on ‘The Notorious’s return. He believes the former double champion may be looking to return earlier than what the UFC CEO would like.

As Conor McGregor deals with business outside the Octagon, the speculations about his return just won’t stop. Chael Sonnen recently revealed that the UFC wants him to fight in January in California, instead of December. However, he believes that the Irishman’s heart was still down for a December return.

Chael Sonnen believes Conor McGregor is being sincere

With over a year gone when the UFC announced that Michael Chandler would fight Conor McGregor, we still don’t have any concrete details as to when that might happen. ‘The Notorious’ has often taken jibes at ‘Iron’ about this fight slipping away, leading people to believe maybe he doesn’t want the fight. However, Chael Sonnen claims that maybe McGregor is working “behind the scenes” to get this sooner rather than later.

“I think the story of Conor has been a little bit mistold in this way. I believe him, I believe that he wants to fight [and] I believe he’s going behind the scenes,” said Chael Sonnen on the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show. “See, he loves to faint power. He loves to let people know that it’s all my decision. I believe he’s humbled himself to say, ‘I need the organization to sign off on this.'”

Having analyzed the whole situation with Conor McGregor, Chael Sonnen pointed out how much commotion he created when the UFC 303 date was announced. In the same way, the 36-year-old has made it evident that December is the date he’s looking forward to, as he even shared a tweet for Dana White to make that possible a few days ago.

“The story is being told that Conor is dangling this? I don’t think so. And, if you remember all the efforts that he went through just to get on the docket on June 29th, he’s doing those same things to get on the docket in December. At the minimum, I do believe he’s sincere and still wants to be one of the boys,” Chael Sonnen added. When Conor McGregor got word a Dana White wasn’t considering a December return for him, he rang up the UFC CEO and the promoter revealed how the conversation went down.

‘The Notorious’ was “blowing” Dana White’s phone up after canceling December return

During a recent interview with ‘Sportsnet’, Dana White revealed that Conor McGregor was livid when he learned that cannot compete in 2024. The Irishman just won’t stop calling Dana White on his phone and would urge a spot on the December card. However, the 55-year-old could not give him a proper date because there are still a lot of untold factors that apply when setting up a McGregor fight.

“After I said that [no December date], Conor was blowing me up [on the phone], going. ‘I’m definitely fighting this year’… As of right now, I believe that Conor will not fight this year. Conor saying he wants to fight in December, we’ll see what happens,” said Dana White.

Hearing these statements, are you confident that Conor McGregor will indeed make his return in 2024? Let us know your thoughts on Chael Sonnen’s comments.