Conor McGregor has dropped his clearest hint yet about when he’ll return to the Octagon, and it looks like ‘The Notorious’ already has the finish line in sight.

Just days after revealing that he tore both his ACL and meniscus at UFC 329, Conor McGregor shared a video from his locker room prior to the Max Holloway fight earlier this month and appeared to reveal the target date for his comeback.

“What was to be a generational beating is now to be reset,” McGregor wrote on Instagram. “IFW 2027 The Last Dance.”

So, it looks like Conor McGregor is targeting International Fight Week 2027 now, which is set to take place in late June or early July next year. It also marks a significant shift from the timeline ‘The Notorious’ offered just a few days ago.

“Update: it was ACL and meniscus,” Conor McGregor had noted on X. “It is the same injury as the first Holloway fight, only this time the opposite leg. Quite shocking. I returned to competition within nine months to fight Diego Brandao back then.

“With today’s regenerative medicine advancements and improved training methods, it is well within my realm to return by next summer. I am walking without a crutch. I done leg extension machine work the other day to no issue. So I can walk without aid and activate my quad under resistance.”

His latest Instagram post, however, suggests a far later return, thus ruling out a comeback before International Fight Week 2027. In fact, his last two booked UFC outings were set to be headliners of IFW, and both ended in disasters.

His fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 got cancelled after the Irishman suffered a broken toe. And his second being the tragic round 1 defeat to Max Holloway at UFC 329.

The phrase “the last dance” is equally interesting here. After all, ‘The Notorious’ has just one fight left on his current UFC contract, making the expected return his final guaranteed appearance under his existing deal with the promotion. While Conor McGregor has previously said that he is open to signing another contract, the latest message suggests he’s already seeing the next fight as the final chapter of this deal.

As for the matchup itself, the opponent still remains a mystery. A trilogy bout with Max Holloway has already been floated after the two fighters split their two meetings, with the Irishman winning the first in 2013 before handing ‘Blessed’ the win during their second meeting at UFC 329.

In fact, even Conor McGregor seems interested in getting the trilogy fight next. But for now, the first goal seems to be recovery and not rushing it like he previously planned with his earlier return timeline that was debunked by Dana White himself before the Irishman could even drop this Instagram post.

Conor McGregor’s new timeline matches Dana White’s recent update

Conor McGregor’s latest post is also consistent with what Dana White has been saying since UFC 329. Speaking at the Zuffa Boxing 9 post-fight press conference, the UFC CEO dismissed questions about the Irishman’s next fight and stated clearly that the Irishman would be out for around a year.

“I have no idea,” Dana White said when asked about Conor McGregor’s return date. “We had him on FaceTime tonight ringside, but, you know, Conor McGregor’s out for a year.”

The UFC CEO has also shut down speculation about potential opponents, stating that there was no use in debating the former double champ’s future until he had fully recovered.

“Listen, the Conor McGregor thing—Conor McGregor needs knee surgery,” Dana White told MMA Fighting. “He’s going to be out. He’s going to have to go through physical therapy, and then there will be a point where his doctor says, ‘You’re able to go back and start training hardcore again.’

“Until that time, it’s not even worth talking about. He is absolutely getting knee surgery, and everybody in this sport knows the timeline and how that all plays out. So any Conor McGregor questions or rematch questions don’t even make sense.”

With surgery closing in and Conor McGregor himself pointing toward International Fight Week 2027, both the former champion and the UFC appear to be working toward the same return window after another lengthy spell on the sidelines.