Conor McGregor is all set to return to the octagon as the date for his fight against Michael Chandler has been confirmed, announced UFC boss Dana White on Saturday.
The two are all set to lock horns at the main event of UFC 303 in Las Vegas on June 29 at T-Mobile Arena.
McGregor, who last stepped inside the octagon in July 2021 when he broke his leg in a fight against Dustin Poirier, has 22 wins and six losses while his opponent, Chandler, has a 23-8 record in the UFC.
There were rumours that McGregor may face Chandler at UFC 296 as the two spent the better part of last year having off-field bouts with one another but that didn’t happen as the Notorious failed to meet UFC’s policy of six months of mandatory drug testing after which White announced Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington will headline the final UFC show of the year.
The co-main event is yet to be set.
Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler, 170 lbs catchweight
Rei Tsuruya vs Carlos Hernandez, flyweight
Cub Swanson vs Andre Fili, featherweight
Michelle Waterson-Gomez vs Gillian Robertson, women’s strawweight
It is worth mentioning that McGregor lost three of his last four fights including back-to-back defeats against Poirier at UFC 257 and 264 and a famous submission defeat against the undefeated UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 on October 7, 2018.
At his peak, the Irishman won two UFC titles and impressively knocked out eight opponents. The quickest knockout win of his career came against Jose Aldo in December 2015 when he knocked Aldo out in just 13 seconds.
In his UFC career, the 35-year-old was undefeated in his first seven fights from 2013 to 2015. His first loss came against Nate Diaz at UFC 196 in March 2016.