Nearly four months have passed since Conor McGregor suffered a gruesome broken leg during his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in Vegas. Since then, he's been rehabbing his injury -- back in mid-September, he told TMZ's Adam Glyn that he felt he could kick "right now."
So, when should fans and fighters expect McGregor's return to the octagon? If his recovery and training goes according to plan, UFC president Dana White believes the answer is sometime next year.
"He's been [working back] the right way. He's doing a lot of weightlifting and things like that. Not doing anything that'll put any type of torque on the leg," White told The Zach Gelb Show on Friday. "No real, hardcore punching or boxing-type stuff, and obviously no kicking... Next year [he'll return to UFC].
"The landscape changes so much, month to month. So, when he's ready to come back, we'll see what's going on. We'll see who's around, who's where, and we'll decide who his comeback fight will be with... He doesn't need the money -- neither does Nate Diaz. Neither one of them needs money. It just depends on how long they want to continue to fight."
With the first-round TKO loss, McGregor dropped to 22-6 in his UFC career. Poirier, who defeated McGregor for the second consecutive time, became the third-quickest fighter to 20 UFC wins, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
During the UFC 264 post-fight press conference, White said that a fourth fight between McGregor and Poirier will be considered once McGregor is "healed up and ready to go."
UFC 268, headlined by a Colby Covington-Kamaru Usman welterweight title bout, will take place Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Usman, who owns the belt with a 19-1-0 record, is the consensus favorite.
The entire UFC conversation between White and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.
