Conor McGregor claims he’ll fight again, offered to step in at UFC 222

By Joseph Currier
Published: 22 Feb 2018, 15:04

Conor McGregor took to Instagram today to adamantly reaffirm that he’s going to fight again and claim that he offered to step in to save UFC 222.

“I am fighting again. Period. I am the best at this,” McGregor wrote. “I put my name forward to step in at UFC 222 to face Frankie Edgar when Max Holloway pulled out, but I was told there wasn’t enough time to generate the money that the UFC would need. I was excited about bouncing in last minute and taking out the final featherweight, without all the rest of the stuff that comes with this game.”

“Please respect the insane amount of work outside the fight game that I have put in. On top of the fighting,” McGregor continued. “I am here. It is on them to come and get me. Because I am here. Yours sincerely, The Champ Champ.”

The Instagram post came after Dana White told TMZ Sports that McGregor was initially supposed to return in August and now it’s become September, but he doesn’t know for sure if McGregor will ever come back after making so much money for his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. White also said that McGregor understands that he’ll have to be stripped of the lightweight title before Tony Ferguson, who is currently the interim champion, faces Khabib Nurmagomedov in April.

Holloway defending his featherweight championship against Edgar was originally slated to be the main event of UFC 222 on March 3rd until Holloway was forced off the show due to a leg injury. It appeared that the pay-per-view was in danger of being changed to a television broadcast at one point, but women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya and Edgar vs. Brian Ortega were eventually announced as the new top two matches for the PPV.

Ali Abdelaziz, Edgar’s manager, told ESPN that McGregor is lying about offering to fill in for Holloway.

The last time he fought in the UFC, McGregor won the lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez in November 2016 to become a two-division champion. He was stripped of the featherweight belt soon after that.