Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor hasn’t competed in the Octagon since the end of 2016, and his boxing coach Owen Roddy believes that this is affecting the UFC massively.
Recently, Conor McGregor made headlines after he attacked a UFC fighter bus in search of Khabib Nurmagomedov. McGregor now faces serious charges regarding the misconduct.
Owen Roddy recently spoke to Express Sport in an exclusive interview. Roddy was unable to confirm when McGregor would be back in action, but he is confident that the fighter known as the “Notorious” one is determined to get back into the UFC’s Octagon.
“Just to have him back in the cage, I think that’s more important than anything else. He’s training, he’s looking good,” Roddy said.
“We can’t really talk about when he wants to return. But he’s adamant he’s getting back.”
Owen Roddy believes that Conor McGregor brings something unique to the UFC and many people would agree with this. There is a different aura that surrounds a Conor McGregor fight, and he claims that the UFC and MMA fans are missing out on this.
“For me, the sooner (he’s back) the better. The UFC is really missing Conor, I believe,” Roddy said. “And I think everybody is missing the whole extravaganza of a Conor McGregor fight. There’s nothing like it in the world.”
“And I think the people in the world want to see it again. The sooner the better.
”There’s no indication of who it will be, but it doesn’t really matter, to be honest,” Roddy said. “I’ve said this before: The draw is Conor. The opponent is just somebody there to go in against him.”
“It’s whatever fight makes sense,” he added. “The biggest draw will get the chance to fight Conor.”
The assumption is that McGregor will face the UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, but it’s unclear whether when McGregor will return to action. Before any fights can be confirmed, Conor McGregor must first attend his court date on June 14th to answer his charges of three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.
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