Conor McGregor has some marquee matchups in mind for his return.

Earlier this year, McGregor was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the octagon in a welterweight fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the event, McGregor suffered a toe injury which forced him to withdraw from the fight and fans were once again left wondering when and if the boisterous superstar would ever return.

Fortunately for fans, McGregor remains undeterred. Since withdrawing from UFC 303, the former two-division UFC champion has maintained that he will be back soon, on Tuesday McGregor spoke with The Schmo about how things are progressing on that front.

“We’re looking for the date,” McGregor said. “Hopefully, I’d like to square it away with Michael Chandler. I’d like to get Chandler in. We’ve had our beef, it’s not settled. He has a match scheduled. I’d like to fight, maybe before that or before he’s recovered so there’s a few names in the line at the minute. There’s a few names being discussed.”

Chandler does in fact have a booking. After spending nearly two years on the shelf waiting for a fight with McGregor, following the UFC 303 incident, Chandler finally opted to accept another fight, a rematch with Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.

Given that, and the fact that UFC CEO Dana White appears to be targeting an early 2025 return for McGregor, Chandler’s availability is very much up in the air at the moment. Fortunately for McGregor, there are no shortage of big names who would be more than willing to welcome him back to the cage, but “Notorious” has his sights set on two in particular: old foes Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz.

“Both of them. Both,” McGregor said. “It’s a must, for sure. The Dustin one is not settled, it’s 1-1-1. And the Diaz one is also 1-1. Two big blockbuster matches and I’m excited to get them locked in.”

Poirier and McGregor have shared a trilogy of bouts over a seven year period. McGregor first defeated Poirier by knockout at UFC 178 down at featherweight, but Poirier avenged his loss with a knockout of his own at UFC 257 up at 155 pounds. Poirier then won their third bout at UFC 264 when McGregor shattered his leg, though “Notorious” disputes this result because of the injury.

Diaz is possibly McGregor’s biggest rival, the man who first defeated the Irish superstar in the UFC, stepping in on 10 days’ notice to score the upset at UFC 196. The two rematched five months later at UFC 202 with McGregor winning a majority decision in one of the best fights of the year. Diaz left the UFC in 2022 to pursue interests in boxing, though he’s recently been rumored to possibly be coming back to the promotion.

Former England manager Gareth Southgate says he will “not coach in the next year” and he is enjoying taking a break after dedicating the last 11 years of his life to England Under-21s and then the full side.

The 54-year-old resigned from the England job after defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.

READ MORE: Southgate plans year out from management

Mario Bautista believes he shouldn’t be blamed entirely for his lackluster win over Jose Aldo at UFC 307.

Bautista (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) defeated Aldo by split decision in Saturday’s main card at Salt Lake City – a performance that was heavily criticized. Bautista found success on the feet early but resorted to grappling after he admittedly got rocked in Round 2.

Bautista was accused of stalling when he couldn’t get Aldo (32-9 MMA, 14-8 UFC) down, but the 31-year-old rising contender said UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili did the same thing when he fought Aldo. Dvalishvili went 0-16 in his takedown attempts vs. Aldo but won the fight by unanimous decision.

“Merab did the same thing. He probably held him against the cage longer than I did, and now look at him. He’s the champ,” Bautista told MMA Junkie Radio. “If we’re actually talking about Aldo, he almost did a similar thing against ‘Chito’ (Vera).

“He started losing that first round, and then he takes ‘Chito’ down and stays on his back for the whole second round and the whole third round, and no one gave crap to Aldo about it. Even me, I’m not going to give crap to Aldo. It’s more on ‘Chito.’ Oh, ‘Chito’ can’t get this guy off his back.’ So that’s the thing: It’s just like a little double standard for some of these Hall of Famers and fan favorites.”

Bautista said he was surprised that Aldo never tried to break free when he had his back stacked against the cage. He thinks it’s on him to get busy, too.

“I just wanted him to keep on working,” Bautista explained. “I just wanted him to break out of the clinch, use that energy to get out, and then just kind of stay stuck to him. Just keep him working, working. I just didn’t really think he was going to, I don’t know, I guess just stay on the wall?

“I thought he was going to get out because that takes up some energy. There are points where I felt – yeah, he was defending the takedown, and maybe he could have circled off, but he just kind of chose to stay there and kind of wait a little bit. Yeah, I was holding him against the cage, but at the same time, I think he did have opportunities to circle off. It’s just he chose not to.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Welcome to SunSport’s coverage of England vs Greece

Lee Carsley’s interim manager stint continues tonight as the Three Lions take on Greece at the Home of Football.

It’s set to be a sombre occasion as Wembley following the tragic death of George Baldock on Wednesday.

Baldock won 12 international caps for Greece and spent the majority of his career in England, before joining Panathinaikos over the summer.

The 31-year-old will be honoured before the game, with tributes pouring in from across the world of football.

On the field, something has to give as both England and Greece are two from two in Group 2 of the Nations League.

Both nations have beaten Ireland and Finland without conceding a goal, with Greece currently topping the table thanks to their superior goal difference.

The Greeks will be hoping to ride a wave of emotion to victory.

But in doing so, they will have to overcame a fairly dismal record against the Three Lions.

England have never lost to Greece over their last 9 meetings, going right back to their first clash in 1971.

Kick-off is at 7.45pm, team news imminent.

West Indies starred with the bat as they boosted their T20 World Cup semi-final hopes alive with a clinical win to all but eliminate Bangladesh.

Led by captain Hayley Matthews’ fluent 34 off 22 balls, West Indies easily chased down 104 with 7.1 overs to spare.

With the ball, Windies spinner Karishma Ramharack took 4-17 and sparked a Bangladesh collapse from 73-2 to 103-8.

Victory improved West Indies’ net run-rate and moved to top of Group B on four points, level with South Africa and England – with the latter having played one game fewer.

West Indies will give themselves a strong chance of reaching the final four if they beat England in their last group match on Tuesday.

Bangladesh need to beat South Africa by a substantial margin in their final group game on Saturday and hope other results go their way.