EXCLUSIVE: Conor McGregor reveals all about his UFC comeback including opponent and date after meeting with rival at BKFC show

Oct 15, 2024

Conor McGregor has told Bloody Elbow that he has found a new date, venue and opponent for his UFC comeback fight.

The Irishman was due to return to the octagon against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 after two years of build-up and three years out of the ring. But a broken toe put paid to his plans, and he was unable to get out before the end of the year.

Since then, the Irishman has been focusing on recovering from his injury as well as promoting a big night of BKFC action in Marbella. That event took place on Saturday night, with three world title fights headlining a stacked card that also featured a post-show concert.

As he was leaving tonight’s event, Bloody Elbow caught up with Conor McGregor, who declared that Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is the “new age” for combat sport. And asked if he had plans for his comeback, he claimed that he has a new opponent, venue and even date.

“February first, Saudi Arabia,” he declared, before saying that his opponent would be number five-ranked UFC lightweight Dan Hooker. The Australian was in the corner for journalist of the year nominee Oscar Willis’ fight earlier in the night, and the pair met briefly later in the night.

McGregor had little to say about his opponent, but noted that the fan-favorite brawler was “A nice guy,” before leaving the venue with his entourage.

After our initial report, Hooker spoke to Submission Radio, where he confirmed that he would be willing to face the Irishman on that date. The pair had met in the ring at BKFC, and appeared to get along well in footage captured by journalist Helen Yee.

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“I’ve come in the ring, we had a few words inside of the ring and yeah, February first works for me in Saudi,” he said. “We’ll get that thing squared away.”

“We’re kindred spirits, as you can say. We get along quite well. I think we’re both very similar. There’s a lot of similarities there. Yeah, we just spoke in the ring and just. Yeah, like I’m on board. He’s on board. We just need to get the UFC on board and we’ll get this thing across the line.”

However, it seems that Hooker may not have got the memo about the fight. He had been keen to face off with the Irishman at some point in Marbella, but hadn’t met him by the time Willis was facing off with Misfits Boxing commentator Ben Davis.

Speaking with Bloody Elbow moments after Willis’ fight, but before we had caught up with McGregor, Hooker said of the Irishman: “I’ve got an opponent early next year that I’m focused on, he’s just a busy man.

“From coming over here and seeing all the things that he’s got going on, if I had that amount of businesses and that much money I don’t think you’d catch me anywhere near a cage for the rest of my days.

“So I can understand. It kind of is what it is, I’m going to fight between January and March and you know me, it doesn’t really matter who that is. I always say yes.”

McGregor appeared to be enjoying himself in Spain as he arrived early and left late for the massive BKFC Marbella event. He partied in the ring with the likes of Xzibit, Kodak Black and Dizee Rascal after the fights were finished.

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It appeared that he was enjoying proceedings as he shared a can of his Forged Irish Tout with Kodak Black, and invited friends and teammates into the ring. Bellator stars Peter Queally and Sinead Kavanagh, long-time pals of the UFC legend, were some of the names brought in to enjoy the festivities.

And he closed out the night by wishing a big happy birthday to his boxing coach Phil Sutcliffe. The pair met during his childhood at the Crumlin Boxing Club, and reunited in 2019 as he prepared for his fight with Donald Cerrone.