Conor McGregor says he's 3 weeks ahead of schedule in his quest to return to fighting after a horror bone break

• Conor McGregor is cycling on a stationary bike, just five weeks after surgery on a broken bone.
• He said he's ahead of schedule for a return to fighting following his horror loss to Dustin Poirier.
• McGregor previously teased that he could compete in wheelchair boxing in the coming months.

Conor McGregor says he's three weeks ahead of schedule in a quest to return to ultimate fighting following a horror bone break last month.

"I can cycle again," McGregor told TMZ Sports last week.

The former two-weight UFC champion suffered a combined fracture of the tibia and fibula during a first-round loss to Dustin Poirier in July. It was his second successive defeat to the American.

McGregor enjoyed moments of success during stand-up exchanges in their UFC 264 main event on July 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

But the bulk of the action was instigated by Poirier, who threw combinations on his feet, took the fight to the ground and dominated, and won via doctor's stoppage as McGregor's injury prevented him from continuing the contest.

McGregor then delivered a wild, disturbing, and frenzied rant, and could be heard issuing death threats before his foot was placed in a boot, he was stretchered out of the arena, and taken to a hospital in Los Angeles for surgery.

Days later, the Nevada State Athletic Commission - which oversees combat sport in Vegas - issued him with a six-month medical suspension from fighting.

The UFC's top athletes, as well as other leading members of the MMA community, slammed the Irishman's behavior before, during, and after his latest setback.

And McGregor's controversial social media strategy, in which he tweets and then deletes posts that appear to mock Khabib Nurmagomedov's deceased father, has thus far overshadowed any road to recovery.

But McGregor does appear to be recovering.

On Instagram, he posted footage of him in a weights room last week:

And, more recently, he showed he can cycle without the protective boot:

He told TMZ that doctors said he wouldn't be able to cycle until eight weeks after his surgery.

However, on Instagram, he said: "Five weeks, five days post-op, I am back on the bike, working from the global hub of physical therapy training and recovery."

The UFC boss Dana White said recently that he did not expect to see McGregor return to the sport for at least an entire year, speculating that he could be out of action until the summer of 2022.

"It's going to take him a year to recover from this one before he can come back," White said, adding that the fighter had been experiencing arthritis in his ankles for a few years.

But McGregor appears determined to return sooner and teased in August that he could compete in a charity wheelchair boxing event in Ireland in the coming months.

"I reckon late October at earliest," he said. "But maybe November/December too."

On a date for a potential fourth fight with Poirier, or another high-profile UFC bout, McGregor was non-committal.

"We'll see what happens," he told TMZ.