Conor McGregor will make a comeback at lightweight, according to Dana White.
The UFC president recently booked ‘Notorious’ against Michael Chandler but refused to tell fight fans when, where or at what weight their fight will take place.
McGregor suffered a grim leg injury at UFC 264 in July 2021 and has been sidelined ever since
All that was known was McGregor and Chandler would be coaches on the latest series of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ before squaring off at some point in 2023.
Just days later, White indicated that his biggest star is set to return to the 155lb division where he became the first dual-weight champion in UFC history by beating Eddie Alvarez in 2016.
“Yeah,” he said on The Pat McAfee show when asked if McGregor and Chandler will fight at lightweight.
White’s revelation will come as a massive surprise to most because ‘Mystic Mac’ has been predicting he will make a run at welterweight gold when he returns to action for the first time since injuring his leg in July 2021.
The 34-year-old claimed he wanted to be the first three-weight champion in UFC history and even packed on a ton of muscle to prepare to face bigger opponents in the 170lb division.
However, it now seems that the bulky body transformation that saw him reach almost 200lbs has all been for nothing and he will need to strip a significant amount of weight before fighting again.
McGregor packed on a ton of muscle during his time away from MMA
He’ll have to drop 40-50lbs to fight Chandler at lightweight
The UFC boss is unsure if a win over Chandler would be enough for McGregor to secure a shot at the title that will be on the line when Islam Makhachev fights Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 this weekend.
White added: “I don’t know. What we do with [the title] is, like when everyone was talking about when Conor comes back who’s he going to fight, you got to look at the landscape, who’s already got fights, who doesn’t.
“The Chandler fight is a fight people love. That fight is going to be absolute violence.”
McGregor is no longer ranked at lightweight due to inactivity and poor form.
Dana White won’t rule out McGregor getting a title shot if he beats Chandler
Even though the Irishman has won just one of his last four fights
The UFC legend has won just one fight since 2016 and that was against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone who retired last year following a seven-fight winless run.
Meanwhile, Chandler has been fun to watch but had mixed results since joining the UFC in 2021 and fighting five times.
‘Iron’ has two impressive knockout wins over Dan Hooker and Tony Ferguson but has suffered defeats to Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, and Charles Oliveira.
It doesn’t seem like a win for either man should be enough for a title shot but the division is currently without an obvious number-one contender and McGregor or Chandler could make things clear for White when they fight.
