10 Huge UFC Stars Who Could Return In 2017

He's busy trying to secure a fight with Mayweather, but there's a good chance he fights in the cage come fall.

Look, this Mayweather thing - it'll happen, or it won't. The UFC may not like it, they may try to stop it if they're not actively involved in promoting it, but one thing it will not do is kill their desire to have Conor McGregor fighting for them. Because at the end of the day, McGregor -is- the UFC right now. He's the PPV king, the ratings king, the king of the gate. Fans in New York paid over $17 million dollars to watch him fight live. Well over a million ordered the event on PPV in North America and many more were watching world wide.

Where McGregor goes, eyeballs follow. Though he has been derided by many for not defending his titles, it doesn't matter. He has won all but one fight in the UFC, avenged the lone loss, and whatever his next fight is, fans will buy it. Four million plus buy PPVs in the span of 12 months prove how much the promotion needs him.

So while he takes time off with his girlfriend expecting their first child, and while he pursues Mayweather, the UFC will be working out a plan to get him back in the cage. They'll meet enough of his demands to lure him back, and McGregor, who has become a shrewd promoter and business man himself, will meet them half way.

Expect to see him fight sometime towards the fall of 2017, depending on what happens with Mayweather.