Conor McGregor will ‘step up in January or February’ - team-mate talks UFC return timeline
Conor McGregor has been away from the Octagon for nearly a year.
Makwan Amirkhani believes Conor McGregor will make his eagerly-anticipated return to the UFC early next year.
The former two-division champion has been sat on the sidelines since losing his UFC 229 grudge match with Khabib Nurmagomedov last October.
McGregor has, however, dropped multiple hints he plans on ending his near 12-month long hiatus from the cage.
The Irishman was seemingly keen on returning to action by the end of 2019, though UFC president Dana White currently expects him to fight ‘early next year’.
Amirkhani agrees with that timeline and believes his SBG Ireland team-mate will be ‘another person’ when he next sets foot inside the cage.
“We’ve seen a lot (that) his mind is on a whole other level,” Amirkhani said of McGregor during an interview with MMA Junkie. “There have been a few steps backwards, but we all make mistakes and we all learn from them. And I think when he gets back (to fighting) he will be another person.
“He’s been in the gym and he’s been working by himself a lot and I think he’s building himself up.
“I believe in the beginning of next year, that’s the time that Conor will step up – January or February.”
I believe in the beginning of next year, that’s the time that Conor will step up – January or February
McGregor has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons since his submission loss to Nurmagomedov, his successor at the summit of the lightweight division.
He has, however, appeared to have returned to full training and set his sights on rising back up the ranks of the 155lb division.
Amirkhani believes his ‘The Notorious’ is on course to do just that, saying: “I think in the end, Conor knows that it’s not the money that makes us athletes happy.
“It’s that we can go there and perform, and I think he’s hungry for that.
“He knows that’s the thing that makes his life happier, and that’s the thing that he loves. So I believe truly that he will get back.”
Amirkhani’s comments on McGregor’s future come a few days after White revealed ‘Mystic Mac’s’ return to the cage is in the works.
When recently asked if McGregor’s fight is close to happening, White replied: “Yeah. Well, obviously he’s ready to roll now, too. He wants to go in December.
“Dublin doesn’t work. We’re doing a show [on] December 14 in Vegas.
"So if he doesn’t want to take that date, then he can come [back] in the begging of next year.”
At this moment of time, White is unsure who will welcome McGregor back to the cage but likes the idea of the former featherweight and lightweight king locking horns with the Justin Gaethje.
“I don’t know [who he’ll face],” he said when asked about McGregor’s next opponent.
“We’ve got to see how all this stuff plays out, still. But [Justin] Gaethje would be fun.”