Conor McGregor hasn’t fought in over three years, but has been saying that he wants to book his next
UFC
fight soon. We’ll discuss the three likely scenarios for the MMA superstar.
After Michael Chandler inexplicably put his career on hold for two years to wait for Conor Mcgregor, that fight did not push through. He has since given up and was booked to face Charles Oliveira at UFC 309 instead.
So who’s next for Conor McGregor? We’ll discuss the three most likely scenarios and options below.
Who will Conor McGregor face in his next UFC fight?
Conor McGregor is adamant he wants to book his next UFC fight soon, and on paper he will have multiple options.
Despite publicly clamoring for a fight, for some reason, he has simply sat in the sidelines long after he has fully recovered from his gruesome injury in 2021. UFC CEO Dana White seems to blame McGregor for this inactivity, but the Irishman has been adamant that the hold up is from the promotion’s side of things.
The truth could very well fall in the middle, especially with McGregor only having two fights left on his UFC contract, and already talking about potential fights in boxing or BKFC after.
McGregor says he wants to compete early in 2025, and here are the top 3 likely scenarios for his next UFC fight.
3. Dan Hooker
Both McGregor and Dan Hooker have publicly expressed interest in this match up, and claim that it will happen early in 2025.
Hooker has been on a career resurgence as of late, coming back from four losses in five fights from 2020 to 2021, to now being on an impressive three-fight win streak. After recent victories against Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot, he should have good odds to top this older and rustier version of McGregor.
That said, both fighters expressing interest in a fight won’t matter much if the UFC isn’t on board. It could be a fun match up between two veteran strikers, so maybe the UFC could be convinced if they truly want to book him soon, but there are bigger names and other likely scenarios for McGregor too.
2. Max Holloway rematch
Even after his UFC 308 loss against Ilia Topuria, Max Holloway having a rematch with Conor McGregor is still viable.
After his brutal KO win over Justin Gaethje a division higher, Max Holloway failed to regain his old featherweight belt against Ilia Topuria at UFC 308. He still has very good options at lightweight, including rematches with fellow veterans Dustin Poirier or Conor McGregor.
Holloway has always wanted a rematch with McGregor, who he lost to way back in 2013, long before they achieved great things as UFC champions. Holloway has made it clear that
he's done with featherweight, so even with this defeat against Topuria, a lightweight bout with McGregor still makes sense. The BMF title wasn't up for grabs at UFC 308, so a Holloway rematch would not only be marketable, but it would also be a good excuse for the UFC to put McGregor in another “championship” PPV headliner.
We’ve seen crazier things in MMA, but it’s unlikely McGregor comes close to an actual title fight at this stage of his career. This option could be a sellable and fun match up, with a built in back story. Unfortunately, I also don’t think that’s the most likely scenario.
Conor McGregor has other ventures outside of fighting.
1. Conor McGregor retires
Conor McGregor might not have a next UFC fight and just retire.
Let’s face it. One of the more realistic options now is that McGregor just never fights professionally again. The former two-division champion has been talking a lot about returning, but there hasn’t really been much progress towards it.
The UFC brass might not be too keen on letting him quickly fight out his contract, with both the desire to not let him leave for other promotions and to keep him during UFC’s looming negotiations for new TV and media rights deals. These discussions are pivotal to just how much more profitable the UFC money machine will be in the next several years, and they could dangle the idea of more lucrative McGregor PPV fights to their new prospective partners.
There’s also the issue of McGregor himself, who has had a bunch of legal issues, and regularly seen endlessly partying these days. He’s now 36, and has successful businesses outside of the money he made fighting. Based on a lot of his recent actions, it just seems like he’d enjoy living the celebrity life rather than fully going back on the long grind of training camps and fighting.
While people keep asking who Conor McGregor’s UFC opponent is, it seems there’s a good chance that he just retires from mixed martial arts altogether.
What happened in Conor McGregor’s last fight?
Conor McGregor’s last fight happened well over three years ago at this point, when he suffered his second straight TKO loss to Dustin Poirier.
Poirier won the trilogy against McGregor, avenging his 2014 loss and dominating him in back-to-back contests in 2021. In that final outing, McGregor also broke his shin bone in a serious and unfortunate injury.
McGregor has been the biggest draw in the history of the UFC and mixed martial arts in general. He has also had a Hall of Fame career that saw him win titles in two divisions. That said, McGregor is now 36, has lost three of his last four bouts, and has just one victory in the last eight years.
It seems unclear what Conor McGregor does next or if we have already seen him compete professionally for the last time.
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