UFC News: Conor McGregor Handed Unexpected Reality Check on His UFC Return by Chael Sonnen; Fans React

The return of Conor McGregor is something that the entire world ‘is,’ or for many, ‘was’ waiting for. When he finally fetched a fight scheduled against Michael Chandler at UFC 303, the whole wide world jumped up high in excitement. However, their hopes were soon crushed by a broken pinky toe. This sudden pull-out has caused the fanbase to wonder if the former UFC double champion would ever return. Even though he still has a couple of fights left in his contract, the possibility of the Irishman returning to fight is pretty low, according to the big guns of the sport.

Many professionals and fighting enthusiasts have expressed their beliefs that the ‘Mystic Mac’ would never return to the Octagon. And Chael Sonnen was one of the believers. He took to his talk show and pointed out that the kind of injury McGregor suffered in UFC 264 was something that people can’t jump back from. On top of that, the Dubliner has also ventured into realms that did not align with mixed martial arts.

Chael Sonnen said, “Michael Chandler is confident Conor McGregor is gonna return. I’m not! Conor McGregor, the night he was broken in half and had to be carried out of the ring against Dustin Poirier, it was very unlikely that he would return. To make things worse, he sells a whiskey company for an unbelievable sum of money, and he finds himself in the movie business. Anytime you retire, it’s a problem nonetheless. What are you gonna do with your time?” 

‘The American Gangster’ pointed out that the UFC took care of everything to make the fighters fight. Be it booking an opponent, or getting flight tickets, the promotion did it all. Despite all the support from the UFC, Conor McGregor’s inactivity assured Sonnen of his stance. He continued, “There’s no place in the world that I’ve ever seen that is easier to do your job if your job is fighting than being signed to the UFC. they will call you. They will handle everything else. They’ll even send you the plane tickets. So, make-believe that Conor is going to fight. That’s something that Chandler is clinging to. And I think I can understand that, because he would also like to cling to the idea that he gets what he worked and sacrificed so hard for. But I am not quite so easy to fool.”

This feeling was shared by a lot of other entities. Even Matt Brown claimed that McGregor would never return in an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports’ Andrew Whitelaw. And yet, Michael Chandler stayed hopeful for his dream fight against McGregor to materialize. Let’s see what the fight fans have to say about it.

Fighting community gets split into factions about Conor McGregor’s return against Michael Chandler

As soon as Sonnen released the video on Instagram, the fighting community took over the comments section to express their beliefs. Some of them applauded Sonnen’s words, believing that he was absolutely correct. One fan wrote, “I think that’s a reasonable take 🙌 if he wanted to fight again he would’ve already.” Meanwhile, some others lashed out at Chandler for being a bit too late to realize that McGregor would never return. A comment read, “Everyone knows conor isnt fighting again, took chandler 2 years to realize it.”

Back at UFC 264 while fighting Dustin Poirier, McGregor snapped his leg in two because of a bad backstep. He indeed had to be carried out in a stretcher and had to be out of action for quite a long time. Such incidents instill fear and extreme cautiousness in an athlete. And the fans knew it pretty well. One of the fans commented, “Knowing from experience what kind of injury he had I can tell you that his leg will never be the same. If he gets taken down he won’t be able to get back uo.”

A few others reflected back at the post-injury fights of Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman. Inferring from such examples, it was indeed crystal clear that McGregor’s peak was already gone. The comment read, “Silva went 1-5 after the leg break, Weidman went 1-1 with a controversial win, Conor would just get crushed if he fought again.”

One of the fans also pointed out that the Irishman was hoping to become the president of his country. The fan wrote, “Don’t forget he going to run for president of Ireland.”

However, hope was still alive for some fight fans. One of them commented, “Keep yapping folks. What you all gonna say when he does return?” But they couldn’t guarantee McGregor’s success. After all, a broken limb seldom heals completely. A fan commented, “I think he will actually. I’m not saying he will have success, but I think he will. But who does he fight?”

What are your thoughts on McGregor’s return? Do you think he will retire after two more fights under the banner of UFC? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.