Conor McGregor Is Shooting For July Return

Conor McGregor broke his leg in July 2021 and has been on his road to recovery since. It appears the UFC fighter has gotten much better in terms of vitality since last year.

On Friday, McGregor, 33, appeared in an interview with the Irish outlet Severe MMA. In the interview, he spoke about his progress with his recovery and talked about returning back to the game.

“Day-by-day, I feel better,” McGregor said. “They’re telling me to take it easy, but I feel I can go. I feel like I need to pull the reins back on my own self, so that’s kind of what I’m doing. … I’m happy with it. I’m almost back and that’s it.”

McGregor opened up that he is planning an April return to sparring which, according to his estimation, will line him up for July. The UFC is set to hold their annual “International Fight Week” with a July 2 festivity-closing pay-per-view event, UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“Maybe if your man (Oliveira) is wise, he might give it another month or two,” McGregor said. “July seems OK to me. I can’t say, too early. But July, if I’m sparring April, May, June, July, I could slap the head off most of these guys at the end of April, do you know what I’m saying? A spar could be a fight.”

McGregor also talked about how he feels that he does not get credits where they are due.

“It’s about time this game starts giving me respect for my different styles of fighting – my ground, my shots downward, my shots upward,” McGregor said. “No matter what’s going on with the leg, I scoot into open guard. … I’d scoot into open guard. I’d play open guard attacks. People are going to give me my respect for all of the facets of my game. Even the downward shots, from bottom, the elbows, the kicks. Even since that fight, you see people trying to implement them and make them. It’s not the same. There are levels to this game. The game is going to understand and give me my respect for my multiple facets for my game.”

McGregor then went to on show how dedicated he is to get fit again and wants to give 100% to his craft.

“I’m the double-champ. I went to a different sport. I came back. I know that. I don’t got to prove that,” McGregor said. “It’s just about getting back in and competing and getting myself into pristine condition and getting in and enjoying myself, putting on a show for the fans. That’s it. Once I get the leg cleared and I get that feeling when I kick a body, when I step back in and out and get that feel of it, then I’ll be able to gauge time.

“I’m going to isolate myself. I’m going to stay away from the pub. I’m going to stay away from my delicious Forge Irish Stout, from my tasty, smooth Proper (No. Twelve) Irish Whiskey. I’m going to dedicate myself to my craft 100 percent. Give it a month or two of that and see how everything goes and make the move. There’s no worry, no rush. I know a lot of people are supporting me. I want to do them well. I want to do my support well. That’s what we’re going to do.”

The UFC will hold their annual “International Fight Week” with a July 2 festivity-closing pay-per-view event, UFC 276, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. And it seems McGregor wants part of that as he has historically headlined the UFC’s tentpole event of the summer. He wants to do it again in 2022.

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