Roddy: “If Conor wants to go at the end of the year, then we go straight into camp.”
Although there is still some doubt over Conor McGregor’s future in MMA, it’s looking more and more likely that the Irish superstar will return to the UFC to defend his lightweight title.
Many predicted that McGregor, 29, would retire after his blockbuster boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. this past August but, according to SBG Ireland striking coach Owen Roddy, ‘The Notorious’ is back in training after a much-needed Summer vacation.
“If Conor wants to go at the end of the year, then we go straight into camp,” Roddy said on the Talking Brawls podcast, per The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis . “He came back training last week, and got a couple of sessions in. He’s back in the gym, after the whole whirlwind. I think it’d be great to let him get back training and enjoy training and take it from there. But at the end of the day, whatever happens happens. If we go into camp tomorrow, we go into camp tomorrow and that’s it.”
McGregor, who fought 10 rounds with ‘The Best Ever’ until being finished with a barrage of strikes against the ropes, has recently teased at a fight with newly-minted UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson.
Both men traded barbs on social media, and interest for a title unification bout grows stronger every day.
Roddy, who initially wanted McGregor to fight Nate Diaz in a trilogy bout, admits that he’s now ‘excited’ about a potential title fight with ‘El Cucuy’.
“It’s exciting,” Roddy said. When the word goes out like that, and people start to talk about it, it’s usually not far off the deal being done. It could be a good one. Ferguson is the interim champion and rightfully so, he had a good performance against Lee. And he’s had a lot of good performances.
“I’d like to see it. People, including myself, were talking about the Diaz fight, but who knows that may come again. But if it’s Ferguson, that’s going to be a cracker as well. I still see Conor — if they’re standing for any sort of extended period, it’ll be a quick one and that’s it.”
Ferguson, 33, extended his win streak to ten with his submission win over Kevin Lee at UFC 216 and the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu fighter was recently awarded his BJJ black belt by coach Eddie Bravo.
If McGregor does start training camp earlier than expected, the multi-promotion champ could face Ferguson at UFC 219, the last pay-per-view event of the year on Dec. 30.
