Sean O’Malley questions if Conor McGregor’s return delay could be due to the UFC “losing money” when he fights

Sean O’Malley is questioning if Conor McGregor’s return delay could be due to the UFC ‘losing money’ when he fights.

McGregor (22-6 MMA) last entered the Octagon in July of 2021 at UFC 264, where he lost to Dustin Poirier (29-8 MMA) via TKO.

The Irishman, 35, suffered a broken leg in that fight, requiring surgery and rehabilitation. Although apparently back in training, it has been almost 2 1/2 years since ‘Notorious’ has fought in the UFC.

Another reason for Conor’s absence was the fact that he was slow to re-enter the USADA testing pool, which requires a minimum of 6 months of drug testing prior to returning to the cage.

Since appearing as the TUF 31 coach earlier this year, focus has been that McGregor will return to the Octagon to fight opposing coach Michael Chandler (23-8 MMA) in his comeback bout.

It was during a recent episode of the ‘TimboSugarShow‘ podcast that Sean O’Malley voiced his opinion on why it’s taking so long to announce McGregor’s return saying:

“I wonder if he’s just making so much money per fight that it’s just not beneficial to the UFC. Like, they’re losing money when he fights.”

With UFC 300 on the horizon, many believe that McGregor vs. Chandler could headline the historic event but there has been no confirmation by the UFC that that is the case.

It has been announced that the current UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA) will be fighting Marlon Vera (23-8 MMA) at UFC 299 which takes place on Saturday, March 9th at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

The two met previously at UFC 252 in August of 2020 where it was Vera defeating ‘Suga’ by TKO at 4:40 of round 1. O’Malley is looking to avenge that loss at UFC 299.

Do you agree with Sean O’Malley’s commentary that perhaps the delay in the UFC announcing Conor McGregor’s next fight is due to money matters?

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