5 big-name fighters who could return to the UFC in 2018

#5 Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor hasn't returned since his mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather

The fact that despite booking Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov for the ‘UFC Lightweight title’, the UFC haven’t outright stripped current champion Conor McGregor of the belt suggests that the promotion must be expecting to get the biggest drawing athlete in combat sports back into the cage at some point.

But will that be in 2018? It likely depends on a number of various reasons.

Firstly, can the UFC even pay McGregor enough to get him back in the traditional sense? He supposedly earned at least $50m for his boxing superfight with Floyd Mayweather, which is far more than the UFC would be willing to pay him, which is why he’s talked in the past about demanding “equity” in the promotion.

Quite how this would work is anyone’s guess, as the UFC always baulked at co-promotion with the likes of Fedor Emelianenko in the past.

McGregor is the biggest drawing star in the world though, and so if the UFC would break their rules for anyone, it’d likely be him.

But do they have an opponent he’s interested in? Fans have accused him of ducking both Ferguson and Nurmagomedov in the past, and it’d likely be one of those fighters who the UFC would look to match him with if he did return.

But if the UFC are still struggling for star power then, expect them to throw everything they can at the Irishman to try to tempt him back into the game.