Manager: We are in ‘red zone’ in terms McGregor-UFC talks

The return of Conor McGregor to the UFC seems closer than ever, according to his manager.

With Conor McGregor’s legal situation squared away, attention is now focused on whether or not we’ll see him back in the UFC’s Octagon for the first time since November 2016.

McGregor’s manager Audie Attar spoke to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani about the current negotiating status between the former two-division champion and the UFC, and it appears as if they’re on the brink of a new deal.

Just like in gridiron football, of course, being in the red zone doesn’t guarantee a touchdown, and even the #1 team in the NFL last year scored at a 65% rate. Still, that’s more than halfway, and presumably the next fight for McGregor would be challenging current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in a mega-PPV clash. If that comes to fruition, the goal is to make that happen for UFC 229 in Las Vegas on October 6th.

McGregor’s last MMA fight was a second-round knockout of Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, which earned him the right to be called the first-ever simultaneous two-division champ in UFC history. Two years later, he holds neither of the belts, but did make an obscene amount of money for his boxing match vs. Floyd Mayweather last August, which he lost by TKO.

As soon as Khabib got wind that McGregor would serve no jail time for his UFC 223 bus attack, he offered up a simple response on social media.