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SBG Dublin fighter Makwan Amirkhani expects Conor McGregor to be back in the UFC by early 2020.
It’s been almost a year since Conor McGregor was last seen inside the UFC Octagon. “The Notorious” last fought at UFC 229, where he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in the fourth round.
McGregor hasn’t been as vocal about his desire for fighting as he was in the past, but for his teammate Makwan Amrikhani, the hunger to compete is definitely still there.
“I think in the end, Conor knows that it’s not the money that makes us athletes happy,” he told MMA Junkie over the weekend. “It’s that we can go there and perform, and I think he’s hungry for that.
“He knows that’s the thing that makes his life happier, and that’s the thing that he loves. So I believe truly that he will get back.”
Based on how he’s seen McGregor in the gym during training, Amirkhani expects the former UFC two-division champion to be back in action by the first two months of the coming year.
“We’ve seen a lot (that) his mind is on a whole other level,” he. “There have been a few steps backwards, but we all make mistakes and we all learn from them. And I think when he gets back (to fighting) he will be another person.
“He’s been in the gym and he’s been working by himself a lot and I think he’s building himself up. I believe in the beginning of next year, that’s the time that Conor will step up – January or February.”
McGregor has yet to determine his next opponent, but his coach John Kavanagh wants a fight against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.