Conor McGregor‘s comeback is in limbo yet again. The Irishman, of course, has not fought for over three years and seems desperate to fight at the moment. After a year of uncertainty and begging Dana White for a date, he was finally scheduled to face Michael Chandler this June but had to pull out due to an injury.

While many were expecting another date to be announced for late this year or early next year, those plans seem out of the question. After all, Chandler has another opponent. ‘Iron’ had put his career on hold for two years hoping for his own ‘red-panty night’ against the sport’s biggest superstar. But it seems he has given up hope.

Why else would Chandler agree to rematch Charles Oliveira on UFC 309 in November? Or so many thought. Chael Sonnen does think these are very ill omens for those hoping to see the Irishman in the octagon soon but feels Chandler may not be completely out of the picture for ‘Mac’s comeback.

Speaking to Daniel Cormier on their ESPN MMA show, the ‘Uncle Chael’ felt that the best-case scenario for McGregor’s comeback was in mid-2025 at the UFC’s annual International Fight Week. And by that time Chandler would be available again to fight again. If that is, ‘Mac’ ever returns to the octagon, which Sonnen fears is a very real possibility as we will see later!

“If Conor is to return, it will be in earliest of International Fight Weekend next year and in theory, at a minimum, you could bring Chandler [in for that fight]. Like regardless of this match [with Oliveira], Chandler could still be the guy for McGregor,” Sonnen said. But what is really alarming was the UFC analyst opining that those waiting for the ‘return of the Mac’ will have to wait forever!

Why Chael Sonnen thinks Conor McGregor may be gone for good

Chael Sonnen is worried. And for good reasons. After all, the verbose UFC analyst feels that there is a chance that McGregor may never fight in the UFC again! Why? Well, quite simply because he feels that the Irishman is too rich and famous to want to fight again. In addition, Sonnen feels that the former two-division champion was ‘broken’ by Dustin Poirier in his last fight three years ago.

“I don’t know what to make of Conor. We’re looking foolish at this point by continuing to act as though he’s going to come back the truth is the night that he went down broken into two by Dustin Porier it was unlikely he was going to return when he got other opportunities selling the whiskey brand, finding himself in uh movies with Jake Gyllenhall,” he added.

McGregor, of course, had horrifically snapped his leg in two during his UFC 264 loss to ‘Diamond’ in July 2021. Not only did this keep him out of action for three years, but the magnitude of the injury had many fearing that he may never fight again. But these fears were dismissed when he announced his comeback last year. Or were they? Clearly, Sonnen feels that whatever McGregor may have said (and indeed continues to say) publicly, fans may never get to see MMA’s biggest showman in action again. What are your thoughts on Chael Sonnen’s dire predictions for Conor McGregor?