‘Underwhelming’: Pros react to Conor McGregor’s UFC return fight announcement

Conor McGregor has a date for his UFC return.

Finally.

The former two-division champion announced Sunday that his long-awaited matchup against Michael Chandler is slated for June 29 as part of the UFC’s annual International Fight Week pay-per-view. A cackling McGregor stated in his social media announcement that he wants Chandler to fight at 185 pounds — a demand Chandler quickly agreed to.

McGregor, 35, has been tentatively linked to a UFC return bout against Chandler since coaching against the American on The Ultimate Fighter 31 in early 2023. In total, “The Notorious” has fought in MMA just four times since capturing the UFC lightweight title with a 2016 win over Eddie Alvarez, sandwiching a victory over Donald Cerrone between a title loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and back-to-back knockout losses to Dustin Poirier. McGregor sustained a brutal loss at the hands of Poirier in his most recent bout back in July 2021, suffering a broken leg en route to a first-round TKO injury stoppage.

Check out how some of McGregor’s fellow pros reacted to Sunday’s news below.

I always said I wanted you at your biggest, your baddest and your best. 185 would look good on me.

— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) December 31, 2023

Don’t forget who was a natural featherweight who started his UFC career fighting cherry-picked bantamweights.

— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) December 31, 2023

That was prolly the most underwhelming piece of fight news ever

— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) December 31, 2023

Every fighters dream. No weight cut and a life changing future secure pay day. Congrats Michael chandler

— Brian BOOM Kelleher (@brianboom135) December 31, 2023

I’m not convinced Conor will be fighting this year. Not hating on him at all it’s just that very few people with his amount of money would fight unless it was a huge paycheck. I hope he does I actually enjoy watching him fight and I think if he’s motivated he can do big things

— Matt Brown (@IamTheImmortal) December 31, 2023

Problem is: He’s very unlikely to be motivated other than to be in the spotlight. He doesn’t make enough money in fighting to justify doing it and he doesn’t have much of a chance of winning a title again. So what’s the point?

— Matt Brown (@IamTheImmortal) December 31, 2023