Conor McGregor’s next opponent and date has been stated to most likely be Donald Cerrone in January 2020, but it remains several yards away from the goal line, according to McGregor’s manager Audie Attar.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t good news to report regarding the negotiations, which are continuing to move forward and trend in the positive direction:

“I would say that talks have been progressing,” Attar told the South China Morning Post about the potential McGregor/Cerrone bout. “We’ve met them, we’re in close communication with them. I would hope that an announcement could happen in the coming weeks, but at the end of the day, it’s still a work in progress.”

The last time we saw Conor McGregor compete was at the record-breaking UFC 229 event, which saw the Irishman tap out to current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Even though McGregor has not competed since the bout took place in October of last year, there was never any doubt in Attar’s mind that this wouldn’t be the last we saw of The Notorious One.

“I always knew he wasn’t going to end on that note,” he said.

But just because we will see McGregor again, Attar says, doesn’t mean it is because of anything that even resembles a necessity for him to fight:

“He never has to fight one fight more in his life,” Attar added. “At the end of the day, that’s the thing people forgot about him; he actually is a competitor. He dares to do things differently.

“I don’t see him slowing down,” he said. “I think that fighting once a year for the last couple of years, it’s almost like it’s grown his appetite to stay active. In any sport, the more reps you take, the better you get. He’s no stranger to becoming a world champion multiple times over. He knows what it takes.”