Conor McGregor Wants ‘Real Trilogy’ With UFC Rivals, Targets Old Foe

Conor McGregor hasn't forgotten about his unfinished business.

The Irish UFC mega-star has been plotting his return for quite some time. McGregor's last appearance in the Octagon came against Dustin Poirier in 2021, where a broken leg would leave him out of commission for the following two years.

McGregor is all healed up and is closing in on a comeback story of a lifetime - if the UFC allows it. The promotion has not yet booked a date, and as 'The Notorious' claims, they haven't been in discussion with him at all:

"That would be great for me, it's June 29th and then the sphere. Then what?" McGregor told TalkSport. "I don't know. "I wonder do they know? There's been no talk about like anything, so I wonder what's next."

A fresh, new opponent in Michael Chandler and a trilogy with former foe Nate Diaz seem to be at the top of the list for what McGregor wants next. That's not the only score McGregor wants to settle, however.

"It's good to see Poirier get that win [at UFC 299], that makes this the quadrilogy and then we'll set the real trilogy," McGregor added. "The finish of it, to put an end to it. That is a huge bout right now. So, I anticipated the results would go that way and I was happy to see it. And that's a big one for sure."

Poirier holds two wins over McGregor and was the first fighter to knock out the Irishman in their rematch at UFC 257. 'The Diamond' recently returned to the win column with a KO of Benoit Saint-Denis in the UFC 299 co-headliner.

McGregor trails behind Poirier in their series at 2-1, but he'd like to wipe the slate clean of the leg-break TKO loss his last time out with a definitive win like he had in his first fight vs. Poirier, a first-round knockout in 2014.

It's a different story with Nate Diaz as the longtime rivals left it at 1-1 from their blockbuster fights in 2016. McGregor and Diaz have both pushed for the fight to be held at the Vegas Sphere on Mexican Independence Day, but surprisingly to no avail from UFC CEO Dana White.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," White said at the UFC 299 post-fight press conference, when presented with the idea of McGregor vs. Diaz III in the Sphere.

McGregor has caught wind of his bosses' disinterest, citing: 

"There was cold water put on that publicly off the bat and I wasn't happy with that. So, I need discussion or conversation because like if I lose interest in I'm not getting anything back and I just drift off my man. So I hope I can get something in and get dialed in."

As for Michael Chandler? The #6 ranked lightweight is the top choice for Conor McGregor's return among even more mentions of Dustin Poirier.

"Chandler of course, I would assume that would be the first one. Maybe Makhachev and Poirier fight for the title in July. I don't think Poirier will be ready. He said something it ribs or something like that and then there was a bit going on the head and one after the bout, maybe some reflection after he got knocked out, it was a bad knockout he suffered in that fight against Gaethje. So, you just don't know where anyone's at really mentally or or whatnot.

"But again, I'll revert back to this, that just happened the [last] weekend. That's where it's recently in my head and why I'm speaking on it. The opponent doesn't matter. I just wish for a bit, a nice run up, a bit of transparency and let me go for it again."

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