Conor McGregor has claimed he would like to fight UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad as he looks to decide on an opponent for his return to the sport next year.
McGregor had agreed to fight American lightweight Michael Chandler at UFC 305 in June, before pulling out after injuring his toe in the lead-up to the fight.
And Chandler has since agreed to face second-ranked lightweight Charles Oliveira at UFC 309 in November, meaning that McGregor now needs to agree on another opponent for the first of two fights that remain on his UFC contract.
The Irishman has not fought since 2021, when he broke his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in Las Vegas.
Speaking on a recent live stream hosted by online gambling site Duelbits, McGregor suggested that he still wanted to fight Chandler, though he is also open to other opponents, such as recently crowned welterweight champion Muhammad.
“He’s woeful. I want to fight him,” McGregor said of the 36-year-old.
“OK, Chandler is next. Belal-McGregor, UFC welterweight world title fight on the line. I have multiple knockouts at 170. I’m a force to be reckoned with at 170. I do damage at 170,” he added.
“Check the stats. One hundred percent accuracy, this man hasn’t even got a knockdown in UFC history. Not one knockdown! It’s embarrassing, to be honest. Kind of slow-rolling a person. They’re all bums.”
Muhammad is on an 11-fight winning streak at welterweight, and won the division title with a dominant win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July.
The American later responded to McGregor in a video uploaded to Instagram.
“Conor, how many times are we going to do this?” Muhammad said.
“You start calling my name out, I clap back, then you go missing again. Let’s stop this game, bro. We know you’re not coming back to fight us. We know you need help. You haven’t won a fight since 2020.
“Stop doing this to yourself. You don’t want this to happen again. I’d rather help you than fight you, bro,” he added.
