Chael Sonnen believes UFC is targeting Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3 for July

Chael Sonnen has given his thoughts on Conor McGregor’s UFC return.

‘The Notorious’ has been out of the cage since UFC 264 in July 2021. The former dual-weight champion broke his leg in the first round of his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier. As a result, McGregor has been forced on the sidelines for the better part of a year.

However, it seems that the Irishman is angling for a return to the cage. McGregor has gone back-and-forth with a wide variety of fighters during his time healing on the sidelines. Names such as Henry Cejudo, Kamaru Usman, Islam Makhachev, and more have all taken some abuse online from McGregor.

According to Chael Sonnen, none of those names will be facing Conor McGregor next. The former UFC title challenger discussed his return on The Chael Sonnen with Jorge Sedano and revealed his thoughts on what’s next for McGregor.

‘The Bad Guy’ opined that he’s never bought into talk of McGregor fighting Nate Diaz again. However, upon watching the Irishman train, he’s since turned his opinion around. He now believes that ‘The Notorious’ will be back in July against the Stockton slugger.

Via: Conor McGregor’s Instagram

“A lot of rumors going around about International Fight Week, which is the first week of July. A very strong rumor in our industry is that Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor are kind of being groomed for that. I wasn’t so sold on it. I know that at one point, and I’m only as good as the information I’m given, he [McGregor] could be back in August.”

Sonnen continued, “But when I look at Conor McGregor, and I look at that picture that he weighed 194-pounds eight weeks ago, and now I see this training video. This is a guy that is working hard, this is a guy that is starting to get his diet under control. I think perhaps he is targeting a return earlier than August. I tend to believe the rumor of Conor vs. Nate part three, international fight weekend.”