Conor McGregor continues to tease “the greatest comeback in sports.”
“The Notorious” former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, McGregor, unfortunately, has been nothing but talk since his last time out against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. McGregor’s first round technical knockout loss via broken leg (watch highlights) led to surgery and sidelining in the time that followed. To close out that year, McGregor departed the required United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool, which he’ll need to re-enter with six months of clean testing before eligible to compete again.
The 35-year-old McGregor recently returned to UFC programming as one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 31 (TUF) opposite top-ranked Lightweight contender, Michael Chandler. As is the reality television series’ tradition, the pair is expected to fight at some point now that the season has concluded. However, one of McGregor’s one-time fellow European UFC superstars, Darren Till, believes we’ve seen the last of Ireland’s finest.
“Conor’s never coming back in my opinion,” Till told Sportslens. “Conor’s struggling to let go. He doesn’t want to let it go. But it’s time to let go. He’s older, he doesn’t train like he used to. He’s got the money and his beautiful kids and the only problem is that he just does not want to let it go. There’s going to come a day where he realizes he’s fighting with himself and has to let go. Every recording on Twitter he’s just drunk as f—k and I’m just crying my eyes out laughing at him. It will take him a while but he’ll find his peace. Maybe he’s going to come back and prove us all wrong. He might just not be ready in terms of testing or he just wants to keep his name out there and he’s thinking in terms of next year. It’s tough to know. He’s a smarter businessman than most so you have to trust what he’s doing.”
Till, like McGregor, is also on the comeback trail after parting ways with UFC earlier this year (Feb. 2023). Having dealt with injuries of his own in recent years since moving up to the Middleweight division in Nov. 2019, Till, 30, closed off the UFC chapter of his career by going 1-5 in his last six (18-5-1 overall).
There’s nothing in place for the one-time UFC Welterweight title challenger at present, but boxing has been on Till’s radar and he’s ready to go as soon as possible.
“I need to fight now. I’m so ready to fight,” Till said. “I’ve put a lot of time and effort and hard work in. As you can see, my shape has changed considerably this year. I’ve really dedicated myself this year, I really have. I just can’t wait to fight now. Mike Perry, Logan Paul, Dillon Danis, Jake Paul, Nate Diaz. Any f—king one, any f—king time. I’m ready. As always they can say you got beat in your last fight or whatever but I’ve always showed up and I’ve always fought, injuries or not. I’m just so ready for it. I’m feeling powerful and big so i probably need to trim up a little bit but I’m good and I’m confident. I just want to get some sparring done and then get in there and just savagely beat someone or savagely get beaten myself! So what!”