Chael Sonnen reacts to rumors that Conor McGregor will not return until 2023: “That’s the best thing for the industry”

Chael Sonnen believes that former dual-weight champion Conor McGregor not fighting until 2023 is a good thing.

The Irishman has been out of action since his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier last July at UFC 264. That trilogy bout ended up being a disastrous night for McGregor, as he lost via TKO due to injury. The former champion broke his leg in the closing seconds of round one.

Following that defeat, Conor McGregor has been on the sidelines. While he first stated that he was going to try and make a turnaround within a year, those talks have halted. Now, rumors are swirling that the Irishman won’t fight until next year at the earliest.

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen believes that is a good thing for the sport of MMA. ‘The Bad Guy’ discussed rumors of Conor McGregor’s return on his official YouTube channel. There, Sonnen opined that the former champion’s absence from the sport clears things up for the UFC.

Specifically, it would end the discussion of Conor McGregor returning this year. With that no longer on the table, Sonnen believes that the UFC can just focus on booking other fights.

(via Christian Petersen/Zuffa LLC)

“Conor McGregor’s return might be held on till 2023. That’s the best thing for the industry. We need that to be stop. Hard stop right there. That needs to be the message. Let me tell you why. As soon as I heard that I thought oh my goodness, if we kick the can till 2023, we don’t have to do the guessing game. We don’t have to do the back-and-forth. Do you know how much easier it is gonna be to make fights for the balance of 2022?” (h/t SportsKeeda)

Chael Sonnen continued, “You have Charles Oliveira right now, willing to fight anybody but wanting to fight Conor McGregor. You have Volkanovski, who has a fight coming up against Max Holloway, but he was talking about going up to fight Conor McGregor. You have Henry Cejudo, who is returning we believe at 135 lbs, but he was doing interviews about meeting Conor and going up to 155 lbs.”

What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s comments? Who do you want to see Conor McGregor fight in his return? Sound off in the comments below!