Michael Bisping questions whether Conor McGregor will ever fight again

Conor McGregor was expected to make his long-awaited octagon return on July 29 against Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event.  When the tickets went on sale, a new live-gate record was established with over $20 million in ticket sales.  Unfortunately, McGregor was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury.  

Former middleweight champion and commentator Michael Bisping reacted to the news of McGregor being out of the UFC 303 fight with Chandler and questioned whether McGregor will ever fight again.  

“I don’t know why I was kind of optimistic that this fight was still going to go ahead,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.  “I should have know, though.  I was on a movie set last week and I was working with ‘Big’ John McCarthy.  A man that is an absolute authority on mixed marital arts and he told me in no uncertain terms, ‘This fight is not happening.  He’s injured.  He’s hurt himself.  His leg, the leg that he broke, that snapped against Dustin Poirier.  His titanium skin bone has failed.’  That’s what ‘Big’ John said.  I thought he was wrong.  I thought he was mistaken.”

McGregor hasn’t fought since suffering a broken leg in the final seconds of the opening round in his trilogy match against Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.  McGregor turns 36 next month and it will be well over three years when he eventually steps back inside the octagon.  

“The big question is, is that it?  Will McGregor ever fight again,” Bisping questioned.  “He hurt himself this time.  What’s to say he won’t hurt himself next time?  What’s to say that he’ll ever be the same fighter again?  Him competing against Dustin Poirier, when the leg snapped, might just be the last time that Conor McGregor ever steps foot inside an octagon.

“Fighters aren’t the same.  Anderson Silva came back from the leg break.  He wasn’t the same,” continued Bisping.  “Chris Weidman, he wasn’t the same.  Chris Weidman still has problems now.  So, it might be the last time.”

UFC CEO Dana White announced that McGregor was out of the July event via social media video but did not provide any details about McGregor’s injury or its severity.  With McGregor injured, White announced a new UFC 303 main event.  Middleweight champion Alex Pereira takes on former titleholder Jiri Prochazka in a rematch in the new event headliner.