Conor McGregor has been told he will find it difficult to sell a fourth showdown with UFC lightweight rival Dustin Poirier.
The Irish star is continuing his recovery from a broken leg injury suffered in a second consecutive defeat by Poirier at UFC 264.
Poirier will fight Charles Oliveira for the title in December and McGregor is expected to put out another challenge to the American if he wins.
But UFC legend Chael Sonnen has admitted it will be near impossible for McGregor to improve his performance in time to secure a revenge victory next year.
“Fighting Dustin Poirier again, man that’s a tough sell," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. "You want to bring the wife back into it, you want to bring the backstories, you want to bring the injury.
"You’re going to move the needle for sure but you’re going to have to work. It’s a tough sell.
"Conor couldn’t beat Dustin when Conor was training his ass off. Conor got re-motivated, reinvigorated, retrained, and couldn’t beat Dustin. We don’t know what Conor was doing for preparation but we know he was doing it.
“Now we know he’s not. That’s what an injury represents. He can’t do anything for a period of time so for sure just using logic there is no opportunity that Conor got better.
"There’s no opportunity to believe he’s going to be sharper in this one than he was in the last one. Conor was doing rehab, but Dustin Poirier was training for a world title fight.
"Just basic logic tells us Dustin is going to smoke him. Do we even need to see that? Does Conor need to put himself in that position?”
McGregor is planning on making the "greatest comeback ever" after posting videos of himself back in light boxing training.
He is also set to demand an immediate title shot on his return which could well mean a fourth fight with Poirier.
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But it is unlikely he will be granted his wish given he has lost three of his last four outings.
McGregor will be looking to make a rapid rise back up the rankings after sliding to ninth position behind the likes of contenders Islam Makhachev and Dan Hooker.
After back-to-back defeats to Poirier, McGregor will understand the importance of a winning return in any penultimate fight comeback next year.
UFC president Dana White expects him to headline a bill on his return despite his run of successive losses.
"He's still one of the top ten guys in the world. I mean, he's still one of the top ten best guys in the world," he told Pardon My Take.
"It would depend on who he's fighting but yeah, Conor [McGregor] coming back is a headliner."
The Irishman will first make a return in a wheelchair boxing match against impressionist Al Foran in March, after the fight was moved from its original December date.
