MMA fans had to wait a long time before there was concrete news about the return of Conor McGregor.
There was plenty of questions during this time about whether he would ever comeback, how much he still has left to give to the sport and so on.
When McGregor announced his withdrawal from the UFC 303 main event against Michael Chandler, some took this in combination with the long wait and posed another theory regarding whether "The Notorious" was ever going to actually fight on June 29.
Having trained with the Irishman throughout his comeback process, PFL's Brendan Loughnane strongly disagrees with any sentiment that McGregor doesn't have that same passion for competition anymore.
Brendan Loughnane Says Conor McGregor Still Has The Same Fire & Was Correct To Pull Out Of UFC 303
Loughnane, who is set to return at PFL 9 on August 23, has spent a lot of solid time around McGregor in the past year specifically.
Having trained alongside "The Mac" as he was looking to make a return to the Octagon, he believes that McGregor is still just as motivated to compete as ever before but pulling out of UFC 303 due to his broken toe was the right call.
Loughnane drew attention to the fact that the former UFC champ-champ never needs to fight again so putting himself through a training camp in the first place should tell you all you need to know about where he's at regarding the current status of his career.
This guy is hungry for it, he doesn't have to do this now, he's touching billionaire status. He's doing this out of the love of the sport, guy loves it through and through, he's a martial artist. He wakes up every day, this is what lights the fire inside people like him and me.
and the fact that he got the injury and he pulled out shows me that he's in a good place because it's like going through these fights injured for what? He's done it before, it's well documented that he's done it many times before. Do it when you're healthy, there's so much on the line now.
Loughnane, like many others have, made reference to how McGregor's injury that led to such a long time away from the Octagon was caused by him going into the third fight with Dustin Poirier with an existing injury that cost him the fight.
He believes that with this in mind, it was the correct decision to make on this occasion.
I'm glad that he did it, it's showing maturity and I can't wait for his comeback.