Conor McGregor continues to think big when it comes to the weightclasses he’ll fight in upon his UFC return.
Does Conor McGregor have middleweight aspirations? According to “The Notorious” himself, he will ‘100%’ be testing himself against 185 pound opponents at some point in his career.
McGregor, who started his fight career out as a 145 pound featherweight, moved up to lightweight in 2016 and even contested some bouts at welterweight, although against other opponents who were normally lightweights. After over a year off to rehab his broken leg, the Irish sports star is looking like a proper 170 pound fighter, and has declared his intention to be the first to claim a third UFC world title.
That’s crazy enough in and of itself, but McGregor continues to look upwards.
“I’m gonna give middleweight a got at some point 100%,” he wrote in some since-deleted tweets on Saturday night. “I’m a big fridge at middleweight. But hot like oven same time, ye know yourself, catch it on PPV. Don’t know tho. It be hard work. Those rounds against those middle/lhw, they were alternating fresh each round. I’ve put in psycho work doing this job over the years.”
Is McGregor serious or is he just talking more trash on Twitter? There’s certainly been more than enough random messaging coming from his social media accounts lately, and it’s unclear whether “The Notorious” is on a mission or merely bored and killing time as he enters the 17th month since his last UFC fight.
Conor McGregor sees middleweight in his future pic.twitter.com/QTzEWwhjgD
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) December 18, 2022
It could still be a while before McGregor has a chance to fight anyone at any weight in the UFC. He recently admitted to removing himself from the USADA drug testing pool to give himself the best chance at fully healing his broken leg. He declared he’d re-enter the pool in February and be fighting soon after, but USADA regulations state fighters must spend six months being randomly tested before being allowed to compete. The question of an exemption from this requirement looms large over his 2023 fighting future.
Whenever he returns, it will be interesting to see where he lands. Will he cut an extreme amount of weight and be a bully at lightweight? Will he embark on a quest for a third divisional title? Or will he pursue something outlandish like a middleweight fight? Anything is possible when it comes to Conor McGregor, or at least it will be when he’s officially given the green light to fight from the UFC and USADA.