Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor has announced his retirement in the past and teased it on other occasions, but the Irishman insisted Friday that he will never retire from MMA.
Responding to a tweet about Max Holloway wanting a rematch with him, McGregor dropped the line about never retiring and said he will "defo" fight Holloway again:
McGregor faced Holloway in only his second fight under the UFC banner in 2013, beating Holloway by unanimous decision to improve to 14-2 in his career.
In many respects, it was a star-making moment for McGregor, who would win five more huge fights in a row after that, including beating Chad Mendes for the interim UFC featherweight title and José Aldo for the unified UFC featherweight title.
McGregor has struggled in more recent years, losing three of his past four fights, including two losses to Dustin Poirier and one to the now-retired Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In his most recent bout, the 34-year-old McGregor suffered a broken leg in a loss to Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.
It is now coming up on two years since McGregor last stepped inside the Octagon, but he has given every indication that he intends to fight again.
Since McGregor and Michael Chandler will be the coaches for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins airing May 30, the working plan is for McGregor's return fight to be against Chandler.
If all goes well in that bout, it seems Holloway could be on McGregor's radar for his next fight after that.
The 31-year-old Holloway is a former UFC featherweight champion with a career record of 24-7. Although he has lost three of his past six fights, all of the defeats were at the hands of reigning featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.
Both McGregor and Holloway could use a big win to get back on track, perhaps making them the perfect opponent for one another.
