The closest we got to a potential return for Conor McGregor was the UFC 303 main event booking against Michael Chandler this past summer. And, well, as we now know, that wasn’t meant to be. Then last week Chandler moved on to a different fight, accepting a rematch with Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.

This begs the question: What is going on with McGregor? Will he ever fight again, or is he done for good?

McGregor, easily the biggest star MMA has ever seen, has been sitting on the sidelines since breaking his leg in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier in 2021. The Irishman has been preparing for a return for a good while, yet it just hasn’t materialized, and recently he said he feels “out of the loop” with the UFC.

MMA Junkie’s Farah Hannoun, Mike Bohn, Danny Segura, and host Gorgeous George discuss the latest with McGregor and the state of his fighting career.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

Manchester United to offer Kobbie Mainoo new deal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris St-Germain consider Viktor Gyokeres and Liverpool target Virgil van Dijk replacement.

Manchester United are set to offer English midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 19, a bumper new contract to reflect his status as a first-team star. (Fabrizio Romano on YouTube), external

Manchester United could move for Bayern Munich’s German midfielder Leon Goretzka, 29, with the futures of Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen, 32, and Brazilian 32-year-old Casemiro still in doubt. (Manchester Evening News), external

Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris St-Germain are leading the race to sign Sweden forward Viktor Gyokeres, 26, from Portuguese giants Sporting. (Caught Offside), external

Liverpool are considering Juventus and Brazil centre-back Gleison Bremer, 27, as their ideal replacement for Dutchman Virgil van Dijk, 33. (Teamtalk), external

Newcastle are monitoring 18-year-old Norwegian forward Sindre Walle Egeli, dubbed the next Erling Haaland, with West Ham, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Brentford also interested in the £25m-rated teenager. (Daily Mail), external

Bayer Leverkusen’s Dutch wing-back Jeremie Frimpong, 23, is on Chelsea’s five-man shortlist to replace English full-back Reece James, 24. (TBR Football), external

But Chelsea will not to loan out Brazilian 17-year-old winger Estevao Willian when he joins the club from Palmeiras next summer. (Goal), external

Cris Cyborg, the featherweight world champion,  is admired around the world for her fearlessness as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, but the 35-year-old has fears about how body-image pressures affect young women. 

The Brazilian is preparing to defend her Bellator title against Australian Arlene Blencowe on Thursday night at the Mohegan Sun Resort in Connecticut. 

“You see a lot of girls who are not eating, [who] feel like they must be skinny,” she told Telegraph Sport. “The media, Instagram — none of it is real. They photoshop everything. You have to be happy with who you are, not with what others want you to be. I’ve had problems in my life when I was younger but I love who I am now. I take care of my body and I’m healthy.”

After 15 years in the sport, Cyborg says it is only recently that her profession is not given a second glance. “I’ve been happy with my body, but people would look at you weird. This is ten years ago. Especially when you’d say you’re a fighter, it was always a response of ‘what?’ But now fighters are commonplace.

“When I told my mum I wanted to be a fighter she thought I would end up on the street. It was a different time. My mum didn’t like it in the beginning, but once she saw it was a real sport she now likes it.”

Cyborg was the first woman in the sport to claim the “grand slam” of titles in Bellator, Strikeforce, the UFC, and Invicta, the all-female fight league. She has often blitzed through opponents, with 18 knockouts in her 22 victories. Her standing and maturity is reflected in the way she carries herself, and her work away from the cage with charities and children in Africa.

There is an aura about her. Not just of destruction, but as an ambassador for the sport.

“I think you have a lot of different types of guys and girls and they decided for themselves which body they like. I’ve always had this body, I started training when I was 12 years old,” she explained. “I think the most important thing is to feel great.

“If you carry a little more weight and feel great then that’s you. Make yourself happy. If you’re happy with yourself then it doesn’t matter what people say.

“I think women in this sport have an athletic body. I like that look and I think all the girls do. You’re in shape. I don’t think there’s difference between our bodies and other athletes’.”

Women’s MMA has exploded in recent years and Cyborg is surfing the crest of a wave which she helped to create.

“I feel so blessed to be fighting at this moment. When I started my career there were no fighters, no events. I always believed in it, though, that it would grow. Now you can see people love women’s MMA. I know it’ll grow and grow and I’m really happy to be part of this story. Yes, I believe we get respect. It grows. Once we had the opportunity we showed up.”

By dint of her success, Cyborg has become a target for every rising star, with Bellator having grown its 145lb roster into a powerful line-up. It only makes Cyborg more ambitious, more determined.

There has even been talk of an attempt to become a women’s boxing world champion. Katie Taylor, the Irish fighter who is undisputed lightweight champion, has been touted as one possible opponent. It would be a seismic match-up.

“It would be another thing for my legacy to be a world champion in boxing and MMA,” Cyborg said. “I want to show everyone you can achieve anything with hard work. You have to trust and have faith. For now, I’m not thinking about Katie Taylor. I’m not focusing on it.”

Have there been discussions with Eddie Hearn, Taylor’s promoter ?

“We didn’t talk to him but maybe Scott Coker did. I’ll let Audi Attar [her manager] decide what’s next. For sure, it’s my dream to do boxing. Katie Taylor next would be great, but I have my fight on Thursday.”

“But everyone knows boxing is a dream for me.”

Bellator 249 is live on Sky Sports Main Event from 3am on Friday morning.

If Jake Paul needs a debut opponent in mixed martial arts, a familiar foe is willing to step up.

Paul intends to make his MMA debut after partnering with PFL. CEO Peter Murray expects “The Problem Child” to enter the cage in 2025.

Paul’s lone loss in boxing came by split decision to Tommy Fury in February 2023. Fury spent some time training MMA with UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall and would love nothing more than to beat Paul in MMA, too.

“Jake Paul’s in the PFL, isn’t he? I’m going to smash his face in when I get good at MMA,” Fury said on his YouTube channel. “I’ll beat him in boxing and the cage. Big useless prick. I reckon a year-and-a-half to two years of training until I’ll beat him in a fight, no problem, in the cage.

“He’s got the funds, he’s got the best trainers in the world, he’s got the best sparring in the world. So he’s doing all right. But no match for me. I swear to you, next time I fight him, I’ll knock him out. In MMA, I just want to give him a big fat (knee). All elbows, no fists.”

Since losing to Fury in the ring, Paul (10-1) rebounded with four consecutive wins, most recently a TKO of Mike Perry in July. He takes on 58-year-old boxing legend Mike Tyson (50-6-2) on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

Brilliant Brazilian mixed martial artist Cris Cyborg proved once more why she is a one-off, wrecking-ball fighter as she tore through the challenge of opponent Arlene Blencowe to retain her Bellator women’s featherweight title inside two rounds at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

With another dominant display, the champion in every major organisation continues the legacy created over the last fifteen years with this victory. Cyborg’s most renowned moments against now WWE star Shayna Baszler on CBS and her battle 14 years ago against now Hollywood action star Gina Carano on Showtime – current Bellator president Scott Coker made that fight – are there in glorious technicolour in a career of pioneering the women’s side of this sport.

Cyborg’s only high profile defeat was a stand-and-bang brawl with current UFC champion Amanda Nunes – a fight which could have gone either way as they let their hands go, and there will likely be a huge rematch of the two hardest hitters ever in women’s MMA down the line.

But for now, Cyborg simply seems to be getting better and at 35, she is showing no signs of slowing. Here, against Blencowe, a former boxing world champion, the opposition was blown away, dominated and submitted by the champion. It is hard to see who will be a genuine pretender to the throne that the Brazilian inhabits.

Cyborg registered the first submission of her career – 21 victories and two defeats in a sport where unblemished records at the elite end are virtually impossible – after dominating the exchanges in the stand-up. She first attacked her challenger with leg kicks. Then, with educated counter-striking, Cyborg pushed Blencowe back towards the cage wall, marshalling her foe away from the centre circle, before overpowering her and bludgeoning her on the ground. Blencowe barely survived the first round, the fight statistics showing the utter dominance of the champion.

The second stanza was simply more of the same. In spite of Blencowe trying as she might to get into the fight to gain a foothold, the pattern was set and Cyborg took control again, before taking the fight to the canvas like a giant anaconda, pressing her Australian rival flat, bloodying her and submitting her foe.