With the information that Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon could be at middleweight, fighters and followers already doing a little fantasy matchmaking for the longer term.
After literal years of hypothesis, we now know that the Irishman will make his “greatest comeback in combat sports history” on June 28. On that date, he’s anticipated to headline UFC 302 as a part of the promotion’s annual Worldwide Struggle Week occasion in Las Vegas. McGregor confirmed that he would sq. off with ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler, however threw followers a curveball when he added that the bout would happen at 185 kilos.
With McGregor shifting up three weight lessons from the place his UFC profession started, there are loads of intriguing money-matchups to be made. Unsurprisingly, one-time middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa was one of many first to throw his title into the combo for a conflict with the brand new buffed-up model of ‘Mystic Mac.
“I gonna step in changing chandler,” Costa wrote in response to McGregor’s struggle announcement on-line.
Costa adopted that up with another post, saying:
“Costa x Mc Gregor at 185lbs”
Like McGregor, Paulo Costa is anticipated to make his Octagon return in 2024
Followers haven’t seen ‘The Eraser’ in motion since he gained a bizarrely entertaining encounter with former middleweight world champion Luke Rockhold in August 2022. Following the competition, he underwent a prolonged contract negotiation with the UFC. Signing a brand new deal that reportedly ensures him upwards of $1 million per struggle, Costa has been booked for not one, however two fights that finally fell by way of.
He was first anticipated to make his Octagon return towards Ikram Aliskerov in July, however the struggle was canceled after he had accepted a contest with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. Two weeks earlier than struggle night time in Abu Dhabi, Costa revealed that he had undergone elbow surgical procedure attributable to an an infection. With a second surgical procedure essential, Costa was pressured out of the bout altogether.
He’s now scheduled to sq. off with perennial contender and former 185-pound king Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 in February.
