- Conor McGregor announced Thursday that he wants to fight again in "early 2023."
- The former two-weight UFC champ suffered a horrific leg break in his last bout in 2021.
Conor McGregor announced on Instagram Live a return to the UFC and plans to compete once again in "early 2023."
"I'm going to be back soon, hopefully," McGregor said on the social media platform. "Early 2023 I'm aiming for. Sometime in that first quarter.'
The former two-weight UFC champion has not competed since suffering a freak broken leg in his second successive loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.
The injury was so severe that UFC boss Dana White said around the time that he did not expect the Irishman to return to competition until the summer of 2022.
"It's going to take him a year to recover from this one before he can come back," White told Fox News.
In the same interview, White said McGregor has suffered from "ankle issues for the last couple years" and has "chronic arthritis in his ankles."
Later in the year, McGregor's longtime coach, John Kavanagh, who runs the Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, also anticipated a comeback in the summer. "I think he's on target for that," he told MMA Junkie.
McGregor wants to return after completing a Hollywood obligation
As Aaron Bronsteter observed for Canadian sports broadcaster TSN, McGregor is the only fighter in the entire UFC roster who is yet to be tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for the entire year.
McGregor, ranked No. 13 at lightweight, would need to return to the USADA testing pool for six months before he can compete.
USADA told TSN, though, that "the UFC may grant an exemption to the six-month written notice rule in exceptional circumstances."
McGregor's early 2023 comeback would seem nine months behind schedule, however, the 34-year-old has also been filming a re-make of the movie 'Road House' with Jake Gyllenhaal in the Dominican Republic.
Once that film is wrapped in the coming days, McGregor said he'd begin training camp. "That will give me a good couple of months" to prepare for a UFC match, he said.
McGregor has been linked with numerous comeback opponents
It is unclear who McGregor would return against, though he has been linked with fights against Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, or Charles Oliveira in the past.
Boxing icon Mike Tyson said McGregor should take "one or two gimme fights" to restore his confidence before he sets his sights on a shot at the UFC lightweight championship — which Islam Makhachev currently holds.
If he were to take the champ's advice, a bout against fellow veteran Tony Ferguson — ranked No.14 at 155 pounds — could be a good idea.