The sun has set on a disappointing year in the cage for Conor McGregor as the UFC star lost both of his bouts in 2021 to Dustin Poirier.
The Dubliner endured a horror start to the year as he was KO'd by his rival in their highly anticipated rematch at Abu Dhabi.
And when the pair reunited for a third bout in July at Las Vegas, things went from bad to worse as McGregor snapped his tibia leading to another stoppage loss to leave him at a crossroads.
The 33-year-old has now lost three of his last four UFC fights, with his only win inside the Octagon in over five years coming against Donald Cerrone in 2020.
So in what could be a make-or-break year for his fighting career, we've taken a look at five different directions McGregor can go in 2022:
A fourth Dustin Poirier fight
Perhaps one of the more likely options for the Notorious one is one last fight with Dustin Poirier.
Although Poirier holds the bragging rights with two undisputed victories over McGregor, the Dubliner previously insisted that the pair will go at it one last time.
If Poirier became UFC champion against Charles Oliveira this month you could have argued that the pair would go their separate ways.
But now that Poirier is coming off a loss, the likelihood of a fourth fight is that bit stronger - despite reports that Poirier is eyeing a shot at Nate Diaz in January.
Get back to winning ways against other lightweight contenders
If it was any fighter other than Conor McGregor, this would be perhaps the only other option.
After two losses and a slip down the lightweight rankings, the logical thing to do is to take on another of the division's stars.
Perhaps take a back seat from the title picture, build up one, two, maybe even three wins before coming back into the picture could do McGregor a world of good in finding his winning form again.
There's plenty of fighters high up the rankings but still short of a title shot that would be happy to take McGregor on.
Islam Makhachev, Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler, Rafael Dos Anjos and Dan Hooker to name but a few.
A win against one or two of these is sure to make McGregor a sure challenger for UFC gold again.
Charles Oliveira title fight
This one is highly unlikely, but you never know when it comes to the UFC.
McGregor has already come out on social media to demand a fight against the champion, and who knows he could get his wish.
Now we're confident Justin Gaethje is next in line for a shot at the title, but if McGregor turns his nose to other challengers and will only accept the title fight then he could well get it.
Nate Diaz trilogy
This one's an alternative but no less interesting path McGregor could go down.
If McGregor isn't offered a title shot against Oliveira or potential newly crowned champ Gaethje, a rematch with Poirier and doesn't deem any of the other lightweight challengers a big enough fight - there's only one man outside of that that can get him into the cage.
And that's Nate Diaz.
It's been over five years since their electrifying rivalry catapulted both stars to a new level, and with both reiterating several times that a trilogy is on the cards, why not do it in 2022?
Diaz is back and active in the UFC again, and the pair's social media beef continues to escalate regularly.
The fighters want it, the fans want it, so it's up to the UFC to make it happen.
Crossover boxing fight
The least likely path of all, but no less entertaining if it does play out that way.
If McGregor isn't granted a title shot, a fourth Poirier fight, doesn't fancy taking on any other contenders and Nate Diaz won't run it back for the trilogy, it's perhaps his only other option.
Just a year ago it seemed quite likely that McGregor would don the boxing gloves again as he sized up a super-fight with Manny Pacquiao before his Poirier loss altered his focus.
Now if he was return to boxing, anyone from Jake Paul to Floyd Mayweather could be lined up on front of him.
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