Fans have expressed their delight after UFC legend Conor McGregor shared training pictures ahead of his comeback fight.
Former two-weight champion McGregor is hoping to make his return against Michael Chandler next year after coaching against his rival on season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter. No date or venue has been announced for the blockbuster fight but fans are calling for it to take place at UFC 300, which is expected to be held in April.
McGregor uploaded a series of pictures on Instagram from a recent training session as comments on the post read: "Training hard and speaking the truth, great to see." Another user wrote: "Can’t wait for the comeback" before a third put: "Glad seeing him back to what he love, can’t wait to see him shock the world."
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"He is training with high calibre people, so everyone can shut up about that now he always was," a fourth comment read. A final user joked that McGregor will implement a wrestling-focused approach for his comeback fight as they commented: "New mythical fighter unlocked: wrestling McGregor."
McGregor has been on the sidelines since breaking his leg in the opening round of his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. The Irishman got the ball rolling for his comeback fight by re-entering the USADA drug testing pool last month, as official records on the organisation's website show he has returned three negative samples.
McGregor's coach John Kavanagh put a return date in the first quarter of next year for his fighter in doubt with a claim that he won't fight at UFC 300. The longtime trainer of McGregor said on The MMA Hour : "We were hoping for April. That's what we were told and now it seems to be the summertime.
"I don't know why, that's what we were having a bit of a back and forth about. I think he said it was suggested that maybe UFC 300 is already big enough, at least that reasoning had some logic. 'Okay, do we really need him for UFC 300 that's gonna be such a massive event?' So, are they holding him back for International Fight Week? I don't really know."