Former UFC Champion Conor McGregor Says He Will Be Cleared To ...

• Marc RaimondiNov 27, 2021, 06:02 PM ETClose
  Marc Raimondi's first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn't his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a top combat sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book "Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro Wrestling's New World Order Changed America," which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2025. Raimondi also worked for the New York Post and Newsday, beginning in 2009, covering high school and college sports, plus the NFL, NFL, MLB and NHL.
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Conor McGregor for the first time has given fans some insight into the timetable for his return to the Octagon.

The former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion tweeted Saturday that he will be cleared to return to MMA sparring by April. And after that, McGregor wrote, "a return will be imminent."

The superstar fighter fractured the tibia and fibula of his left leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on July 10.

"I will be full mixed martial arts sparring by April," McGregor tweeted. "Easily! By then a return will be imminent. But I must be patient. I will beat this!"

McGregor, 33, lost that bout to Poirier via doctor's stoppage at the end of the first round. He was then taken to Los Angeles for surgery to repair the broken leg. McGregor has said that he had multiple stress fractures in the leg coming into the Poirier fight and that it was already compromised before he even set foot into the cage.

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Upon his comeback, McGregor, the biggest box-office draw in UFC history, expects to challenge whoever is the UFC lightweight champion, he tweeted last week. And that could be Poirier, who goes up against champion Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 269 on Dec. 11 in Las Vegas.

"I'm facing whoever the f--- has that LW title next," McGregor wrote Nov. 22. "Deal with it."

Ireland's McGregor (22-6) went 0-2 in 2021 against Poirier, including a second-round TKO loss at UFC 257 in January. "The Notorious" has just one victory since 2016, a first-round TKO of Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone at UFC 246 in January 2020. McGregor became the first fighter to hold two UFC titles in two different weight classes concurrently when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016.