Marcus McGhee is back in action this weekend, ending an 11-month layoff to face John Yannis after last summer’s bout with Petr Yan in Abu Dhabi. The 36-year-old bantamweight standout said the long break was not what he wanted, but he is stepping in now after the fight finally came together.

“This is the way the cards have fallen,” McGhee said, adding that he had to choose what he could and adapt to what he had to adapt to. He also thanked Yannis for taking the fight, saying they “almost lost this one” before the matchup was saved and he could move ahead with a return to the Octagon.

The layoff matters because McGhee has spent nearly a year away from competition, a stretch that could have stalled momentum for a fighter in a crowded bantamweight division. Instead, he said he leaned on a steady home life and a family that kept him grounded while he kept working in the gym.

McGhee said the time away was frustrating, but he used it to get better, build his family and strengthen his mental approach. He said he did not want that much time off and would have preferred to be more active, though he believed the bigger problem would have been wasting the break rather than living with it.

That work was not limited to his own sessions. McGhee said he was in Winnipeg with Kyler Phillips and went through Phillips’ entire camp, then did the same while Mario Bautista was fighting. He also trained with Abdul Kamara, who has been active for Fury FC, and said that kind of constant activity around him helped keep him from falling behind.

“So many of our guys are constantly growing, constantly fighting, that it forces us to stay in the gym,” McGhee said. “You can’t get behind.” For him, the unanswered question is not whether he stayed busy, but whether that busyness has preserved his edge enough to make the most of a comeback that starts this weekend.