UFC star Conor McGregor confirmed he is ready to return to the octagon this year. The Irishman has not fought in the UFC since he won the lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 November 2016.
McGregor was one half of one of the richest fights in boxing last August. Having come up to the top of the UFC, he took on his latest challenge – a boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather.
Through his Instagaram account, the UFC lightweight champion revealed on Thursday that he had offered to replace Max Holloway in the featherweight title fight against Frankie Edgar.
“I am fighting again. Period. I am the best at this. I put may name forward to step in at UFC to face Frankie Edgar when Max Halloway pulled out,” McGregor wrote.
“But I was told there wasn’t enough time to generate the money that the UFC would need. I was excited about bouncing in last minute and taking out the final featherweight, without all the rest of the stuff that comes with this game.
“Please respect the insane amount of work outside the fight game that I have put in, on top of the fighting. I am here. It is on them to come and get me, because I am here.” he added.
On the other side, Edgar’s manager Ali Abdelaziz has called former featherweight champion McGregor a big liar. He told that McGregor never offered to face Edgar at coming UFC 222.
“He should have faced Frankie Edgar two years ago. He ducked him for two years. He’s full of nonsense. He’s a big liar.” Abdelaziz told.
“He’s become just like Floyd Mayweather. This guy doesn’t want to fight. He does what Floyd does. He just wants to stay in the media. He likes the attention, but he’s not getting it because he’s not fighting.” Abdelaziz added.
Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight for the undisputed lightweight strap at UFC 223.
UFC president Dana White on Thursday said that McGregor “understands” why the Russian fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will compete for the real lightweight title and not the interim title in the UFC 223 final.
“Right, I told in the last press conference, that the fight will be for the title. It’s not the interim title. That fight is for the title.” White told TMZ.
