Esther Lin/MMA Fighting
Don’t count out the Notorious just yet. Teammate Peter Queally is betting his friend will return to fight by the end of the year.
Conor McGregor news has slowed down quite a bit over the past few months as a potential return to the Octagon seems nowhere in sight. He’s also stopped getting himself arrested and seems to have avoided charges in a disturbing rape investigation (for now), so maybe less headlines are a good thing for him?
Either way, there’s not much to report on past his regular Twitter outbursts, and without the promise of a comeback fight even those are getting less relevant by the day.
But according to one of Conor McGregor’s teammates at Straight Blast Gym, a fabled McGregor UFC fight could happen sooner than you’d expect. The Irish Mirror has ‘best friend and training partner Peter Queally’ sounding quite positive about “The Notorious” return.
”[A fight by the end of the year] is realistic,” Queally said. “He’s been struggling a little bit with a hand injury, which has been well documented in the media, so it’s hard to tell, but it’s definitely realistic that he will fight by the end of the year. If he wants to fight by the end of the year, he will fight by the end of the year.”
McGregor has been nursing a busted up thumb since the start of summer, an injury that can take a frustratingly long time to recover from. He hasn’t said much about it, but we’re sure once he’s ready to go his Instagram account will fill up photos of him working hard in the gym.
That was the case through the first half of 2019 until he hurt his thumb, even though it seemed like he and the UFC were at an impasse regarding compensation for a return. McGregor wanted shares in the company. Dana White was saying no way but seemed confident a deal could be worked out.
There’s one thing for sure: McGregor wasn’t spending all that time in the gym for nothing. At this point any tale the UFC and White tells about McGregor not being hungry enough has more to do with taking the heat off complicated negotiations rather than any reality. McGregor is going to fight again. What sport and when are the real questions.