Conor McGregor arrives late for quarantine at UFC Fight Island

Conor McGregor sailed into Abu Dhabi on a luxury yacht on his own sweet time in a subtle jab at UFC boss Dana White.

Conor McGregor is climbing back to the top.

Conor McGregor has begun his 48-hour quarantine period after arriving at the UFC’s Fight Island — although his entrance was later than UFC expected.

Notorious returns to the Octagon on Sunday (AEDT) after a 12-month absence at UFC 257 in a rematch with Dustin Poirier, The Sun reports.

The Irishman, 32, made waves ahead of his comeback by sailing into Abu Dhabi on a luxury yacht.

He provided his Instagram followers a sneak peak inside the vessel, including snaps of him meditating while soaking up the sun on the huge front deck as well as providing a glimpse of the spacious bedrooms while posing for a selfie in the mirror.

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The yacht was docked within view of the Etihad Arena but now he is getting right down to business after officially checking into UFC’s strict Fight Island bubble - albeit a day later than officials were expecting.

Dana White’s staff were informed McGregor was due to arrive around 11am on Sunday — 7am UK time.

Conor McGregor does whatever Conor McGregor wants.

They were then told he would instead be checking in later that night at 8pm local time.

But McGregor did finally climb off his yacht after opting to spend an extra night there yesterday afternoon and was chauffeured to the luxury hotel’s door in a blacked out Rolls Royce.

He strolled into the reception of the hotel with no top on but wearing a pair of garish green trousers and flip flops while carrying his son, Conor Jr, in his arms.

The MMA superstar and his entourage immediately all had to take a test for Covid-19 and have to remain in quarantine until the results are back on Wednesday around 2pm local time - 48 hours after his arrival.

As well as his training, the outspoken and ever-confident former two-weight world champ will also have to fulfil a number of contracted media duties ahead of fight night.

Opponent Dustin Poirier and his team had already checked into Fight Island’s plush W Hotel last week and have completed their quarantine period.

McGregor comfortably defeated Poirier last time they met over six years ago at UFC 178.

But Poirier has bounced back since then and beat Max Holloway for the UFC interim lightweight championship before putting up a decent effort in his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in September 2019.

And the undefeated Khabib, who also defeated McGregor in 2018, will be a keen spectator for this one after telling White he could perform a retirement U-turn and face the winner if he sees something that excites him enough to get cage into the Octagon.

— This story originally appeared on thesun.co.uk and has been republished with permission