Conor McGregor’s next fight: Lightweight champion to fight sooner rather than later – ‘I’m ready for anything’

Conor McGregor has laughed off speculation claiming he’ll be out of action for nearly a year due to the arrival of his first child.

In November the UFC lightweight champion announced his girlfriend Dee Devlin is pregnant and many reports have suggested he will not fight until his baby is born in May, in order to spare his partner the stress of watching him compete in the octagon.

But the Pride of Ireland has rejected that notion, stating he’ll be back sooner rather than later.

“I’m very excited about fatherhood; excited and nervous at the same time. I cannot wait.” he said in an interview with RTE in Ireland.

“As far as a break, I don’t know. I know [UFC president Dana White] has been on record saying 10 months, he’s taking 10 months [off]. Why are you saying 10 months?

“I’m ready for anything. I did say I was going to take a break but a Christmas break.”

McGregor was also keen to back up what he’s said over the last few weeks, which is that he, despite apparently giving up his UFC featherweight title voluntarily, is still the two-weight world champion.

As he was being introduced as the UFC lightweight champion, McGregor was forced to interrupt.

“UFC lightweight AND UFC featherweight world champion. Let’s get it right. I’m still the two-weight world champion, make no mistake about that.

“[The UFC] can say what they want, they can try and get phony belts and hand them to people that I’ve already destroyed. I mean the current champion is a guy I KOed in 13 seconds. The current interim champion is a guy I destroyed as well.

“Officially, I don’t care what anyone says, I’m the two-weight world champion and that’s that.”