Although he's still managed to keep himself in the headlines in different ways despite not having a fight with UFC in a year, fans are eagerly awaiting for Conor McGregor to announce who his next opponent will be inside the Octagon.

Mystic Mac hasn't been seen competing inside the Octagon for UFC since he won the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 205 by defeating Eddie Alvarez via TKO (punches) in the second round.

Since then, he has taken a hiatus away from MMA to start a family, as well as make his boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather, a fight which he lost in the tenth round via TKO. Now he has those two goals completed though, he's ready for a return to MMA.

Many people expect McGregor's first UFC fight in over a year to be a unification fight with interim UFC Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson, with this fight most likely taking place at UFC 220 in January 2018 at the TD Garden in Boston.

However, as of writing, that match is yet to be booked, and that might be down to the financial standpoint, especially after what the Irishman was paid for fighting against Mayweather in a boxing ring during the summer.

McGregor stated in an interview with BBC Sport recently that he is struggling to get excited about a possible matchup against Ferguson in his return to the UFC, not because El Cucuy isn't talented enough for him, but because the money on offer isn't on the same level to what he received for boxing with Money.

The Notorious said: "We are in the negotiations stage right now and that is a lengthy process, they have got to make me excited about it. I came from a crazy event, a record-breaking event - I made insane money. The opponents they are trying to line up for me have a $600,000 gate in Las Vegas - $600,000 in Las Vegas is unheard of, it is abysmal.

"It is hard to get excited by that, 100,000 pay-per-view buyers compared to my 6.5 million. Can they entice me? No doubt they can. Have they yet? No."

Eventually, McGregor and UFC will come to an agreement over the finer details, such as co-promotion status for McGregor etc,  in order to make this fight happen, otherwise, both parties will be essentially leaving money on the table. It's just a matter of 'when', not 'if' Conor McGregor will fight for UFC again.