Well, there you go.
Conor McGregor will fight in the octagon in 2018. This much we know. When and against who, though, is a more complicated matter.
While we’re not expecting the 29-year-old to return for at least another few months, it turns we could have seen him competing this weekend at UFC 222.
In February, McGregor revealed that he had offered to fight at UFC 222 following news of Max Holloway’s broken leg.
“I put my name forward to step in at UFC 222 to face Frankie Edgar when Max Holloway pulled out, but I was told there wasn’t enough time to generate the money that the UFC would need,” McGregor said in an Instagram post.
“I was excited about bouncing in last minute and taking out the final featherweight, without all the rest of the stuff that comes with this game. Please respect the insane amount of work outside the fight game that I have put in.”
While a lot of people took McGregor’s revelation with a pinch of salt, Dana White confirmed it as being true during his post-event press conference at UFC 222.
Dana White confirms Conor McGregor's claim he offered to step in to fight Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 this weekend, when Max Holloway withdrew.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 4, 2018
Of course, that never came to fruition. What did happen, though, was equally as exciting and memorable, with Edgar suffering his first-ever stoppage loss after a bruising encounter with Brian Ortega.
Ortega’s win now gives him a shot at UFC featherweight titleholder Holloway. Ortega, Holloway and White have all confirmed they want the fight to happen, but when it will go down remains an issue, although UFC 226 on July 7 is looking increasingly likely at this stage, judging by Holloway’s not-so-cryptic tweet.
@Ufc 226
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 4, 2018
