Conor McGregor is not ready to walk away from fighting. He just wants to take the gloves off.

The former two-division UFC champion said this week there is a "big chance" he moves to bare knuckle fighting once he finishes the one bout left on his UFC contract.

"I'm going to lay off my gloves in that octagon for my final UFC contract, but not to retire, to announce bareknuckle," McGregor said while attending an event in Italy on Monday.

Why bare knuckle

McGregor co-owns Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and has long hinted he would one day compete in it.

"I really enjoy bareknuckle fighting," he said. "I don't think there's any chance of a boring fight in bareknuckle. Now, I am a mixed martial artist. Maybe I'm just saying this because I had a bad time out the last time."

"Good MMA, really good MMA, is hard to beat, but bareknuckle is very exciting, very dangerous and it takes more courage," he added.

He did not sound worried about the extra wear and tear. "Teeth come and go, just like a nose," McGregor said. "It means nothing."

The road back

McGregor, 22-7 in MMA, returned in July after five years away to headline UFC 329 against Max Holloway. The comeback ended almost as soon as it began when he blew out his knee in the opening moments.

He had surgery on the ACL and is not expected to fight again until next summer. His last UFC appearance before that was the 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier in which he broke his leg.

McGregor has shown interest in running it back with Holloway for that final UFC fight. After that, the Irishman says, the gloves come off.