LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – The return of the Mac is real…kind of.
On Wednesday (Oct. 4, 2023), Conor McGregor took to his Instagram to say he has submitted paperwork to UFC’s Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance, Jeff Novitzky, aka the USADA guy, to get the ball rolling for his highly anticipated return.
Of course, there was some doubt because McGregor has teased his return all year; remember when he leaked a UFC Fight Pass image that he was fighting this December?
The former two-division champion wasn’t lying because UFC CEO Dana White confirmed the news during the UFC Vegas 80 post-fight press conference (watch here).
“No, he is not officially in the USADA testing pool. He submitted the paperwork, and probably by Monday, he will be submitted,” White told reporters. “Again, don’t hold me to that, but the paperwork is submitted – next week sometime.”
With the timeline that McGregor and the UFC are on, it would make perfect sense for “Notorious” to return at UFC 300 in April; however, White has no plans …yet.
“I literally have nothing planned for Conor McGregor right now. The paperwork is being submitted; we’ll play it by ear and see how things play out. There are still a lot of things that have to happen as far as fights go, and then we’ll decide where is going to land,” White concluded.
McGregor has been out of action since suffering a brutal leg break against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 (July 10, 2021). The former “champ-champ” has been penciled in to fight Michael Chandler after coaching The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31 against each other.