Video: Conor McGregor blames ‘lapse of concentration’ for UFC 303 injury, reveals return timeline

Conor McGregor’s immediate future remains uncertain.

In the last week, McGregor was forced to withdraw from his planned UFC 303 main event match up versus Michael Chandler. He’s been building towards that comeback fight for the better part of three years, but a broken pinky toe disrupted his plans. McGregor wasn’t willing to fight at anything less than 100%, so he opted to delay his highly-anticipated return.

While attending Bellator Dublin in support of his teammate Sinead Kavanagh, McGregor was interviewed by Dan Hardy.

“I had a little lapse of concentration, and I had to reschedule the bout,” McGregor told Hardy (via SportsNet). “I’m a little upset about that, but it’s keeping me dialed in, it’s keeping me focused … that’s not bad for me. I’m onwards towards the new date and take my lesson’s learned. It was a lapse in concentration. If I was any one of these other little bums that can’t move, that have no footwork and don’t rely on their skills, then I would be okay.

“And I’ve done it before. I’ve made the walk a multitude of times under those circumstances and given these bums an advantage over me that they don’t even deserve. So now I’m dialing it in. I’m getting this training camp correct, I’m walking in there 100% Conor McGregor, injury free, perfection is back on the menu.”

Later backstage at the event, McGregor was interviewed by Andy Stevenson of SevereMMA. In that interview, McGregor revealed that he was still unable to put on a shoe three weeks after the injury, but he also intends to fight Michael Chandler in either August or September.

All told, that’s not the worst delay. If McGregor’s toe heals up well and he’s able to compete by the end of summer, all of Michael Chandler’s patience will have actually paid off. Of course, this does still mean that McGregor has to undergo another entire fight camp at nearly 36 years of age …

Hopefully, there are no further delays.