Chael Sonnen has explained what convinced him that Conor McGregor will return to compete in the UFC.

As we all know, you have to go back a long way to find a time whereby there was a bigger star in mixed martial arts than Conor McGregor.

The Irishman, throughout the course of his illustrious career, went from strength to strength by seemingly doing the unimaginable time and time again.

Nobody could quite believe what he was achieving and in the present day, while he may not be active, he still has a very valid claim to be the ‘face of the fight game’, as he likes to say.

Read more: Conor McGregor leg break: New footage shows exact moment it happened vs Dustin Poirier

The latest appearance from McGregor inside the Octagon came last summer when he suffered an unfortunate leg break during his highly anticipated trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier. Ever since then, fans have been wondering if and when he would return to the cage in the name of getting back in the win column.

Recent training videos have suggested he could be gearing up for another run with one, in particular, convincing UFC legend Chael Sonnen that he’ll be back in no time.

Video: Chael Sonnen predicts Conor McGregor comeback

“There’s guys that go into a gym, they’ll do a whole gym workout. They’ll lift some weights, hit the pull-up bar, make sure they snap a photo of themselves for Instagram, they’ll hit the water fountain, they’ll even get some mitts in, they’ll go over to the speed bag. That’s exercise, that’s good stuff.”

“Conor grabbing a guy, pushing and pulling, back and forth - you don’t play wrestling.

“You don’t play wrestling, it’s very difficult. It’s very hard stuff and the fact that Conor McGregor is out there on a weekend pushing and pulling, holding stance and he’s wrestling, guys, he’s coming back. This is the surest thing to a guarantee we’ve had. Not his tweets, not his memes, not him hitting pads.”

The unknown path

Nobody, including the great ‘American Gangster’, knows exactly what McGregor could be planning regarding a return to active competition.

Read more: Conor McGregor: UFC star's featherweight interview highlights mad body transformation

His size alone would indicate that welterweight is the right path for him and considering his desire to make history, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see ‘Notorious’ pursue a third world title in a third different weight class - something we’ve never seen in the UFC.