“He’s chomping at the bit to get back in there and compete again.”
UFC president Dana White says Conor McGregor is training like Rocky Balboa in ‘Rocky III’, claiming the former UFC two-division champion is ‘chomping at the bit’ to get back inside the octagon and compete again.
White didn’t give a timeline for McGregor’s return but says the Irishman still has a strong desire to compete despite suffering a devastating and potentially career-threatening injury (broken leg) in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
“He’s chomping at the bit to get back in there and compete again,” White said during a recent appearance on The Jim Rome Podcast (h/t MMA Junkie). “It’s going to be a while before he can put some torque on that leg. April. For him to start training again in April is probably about right.”
“I don’t know (how badly he wants it),” he added. “He obviously still has the desire to compete. You don’t ever hear Conor going, ‘You know what, man? I just don’t have the desire for this anymore.’ You now what I mean? He’s obviously very rich, and he’s training like Rocky in ‘Rocky III,’ but he still has the desire to compete and the desire to fight, and we’ll see what happens.”
McGregor, now 33, is one of the richest athletes in the world but money hasn’t quelled his appetite for fighting, according to a recent Tweet posted by the Dubliner.
They say time and time again that my accumulated wealth has quelled my fire.
They are wrong. @McGregorFast pic.twitter.com/MXUH93dUG2— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 22, 2021
“They say time and time again that my accumulated wealth has quelled my fire. They are wrong.”
McGregor is expected to return to the UFC by mid-2022 at the earliest.