At a press conference in Moscow Thursday, former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor announced that he will return to action on Saturday, January 18th in Las Vegas, NV.
As far as the opponent, McGregor said he is leaving that up to the UFC as they are “crafty” and might flip it on him. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that the leading candidates are Justin Gaethje or Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone but that nothing has been signed yet.
While not formally announced by the company, it would be UFC 246.
The Irishman then outlined his “season”: the January 18th return, a challenge to the winner of Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal for the BMF title, and a challenge to the winner of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov-Tony Ferguson in Moscow. That fight hasn’t been signed as of now.
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Helwani added that McGregor was pushing for a December 14th return against Frankie Edgar but UFC had no interest in that fight and they already had three title fights on the show so it didn’t make financial sense. ESPN and UFC weren’t planning on having a January PPV, but McGregor’s return changed that plan.
McGregor has been out of action since October 2018 when he was submitted by Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas. A series of issues outside the cage has followed him including two sexual assault claims, a resolved problem with a man whose cell phone McGregor broke in Miami, and an unresolved issue where he punched a man at a Dublin bar for refusing a shot of whiskey.
Here’s Conor McGregor announcing that he’ll return to the Octagon JAN. 18 in Las Vegas – Leading potential opponents are Cerrone and Gaethje per @arielhelwani
| #UFC pic.twitter.com/6mOiqqgagR
— Niall McGrath (@niallmcgrath4) October 24, 2019