Irish superstar Conor McGregor has not competed inside the Octagon for quite some time. Despite his prolonged absence, McGregor still makes his presence felt in the MMA world and can often be seen commenting on the sport’s happenings on social media.
Conor McGregor Gives a Shout-Out to an SBG Fighter
Nikolay Grozdev is a professional MMA fighter with a 10-2 record. He hails from SBG Ireland, which is also the gym where Conor McGregor trains.
Grozdev recently competed in a featherweight title fight against Ignacio Campos at the WOW 20 event, which was held on June 7 at the Madrid Arena in Spain. Grozdev emerged victorious in that encounter as he scored an impressive knockout in the fourth round.
The victory caught McGregor’s attention, and he posted a picture to his Instagram story hailing Grozdev as a UFC-ready fighter. Tagging UFC on his story, McGregor proclaimed the birth of a new fighter with a one-word caption, “READY”.

McGregor has been out of action for nearly four years. The Irishman’s last UFC fight took place in July 2021 when he went up against Dustin Poirier in a trilogy bout at UFC 264.
The night did not go well for McGregor as he suffered a horrific leg injury in the opening round of the fight, which rendered him unable to compete. Poirier was declared the winner by TKO via doctor stoppage.
Michael Chandler Speaks About Fighting McGregor
In 2023, McGregor took up coaching duties against Michael Chandler on the UFC’s cult TV show “The Ultimate Fighter”. After the culmination of the series, the two athletes were expected to lock horns with each other.
Their clash was scheduled to take place at UFC 303 during International Fight Week in June 2024. However, in a disheartening turn of events, McGregor suffered an injury and withdrew from the fight.
Since then, Chandler has called McGregor out on multiple occasions for a clash, but it does not seem that the fight will materialize anytime soon.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Chandler opened up about his highly anticipated fight with McGregor. He shared that he did not wish to make the fight a reality forcefully but was interested in sharing the Octagon with McGregor nonetheless.
“It’s one of those deals where I’m not losing sleep at night, trying to get the Conor fight, wanting to get the Conor fight,” said Chandler. “If me and Conor are supposed to fight, and he’s supposed to come back, it’s gonna happen and I don’t need to force it. With that being said, if I’m a betting man, I’m not sure if he comes back. Do I want to fight him? Do I want to finish The Ultimate Fighter 31? Absolutely. So, we’ll see.”
If the Chandler-McGregor fight ever materializes, it will be a big treat for UFC fans. But for now, with so many days passed, it is difficult to say if that will happen for sure. But McGregor’s return to the octagon continues to remain a highly anticipated event.