UFC Goes Easy on Golden Goose, Conor McGregor Sets Return Date
Just one week after receiving a five-day community service sentence, Conor McGregor returned to the good graces of UFC as it scheduled his next fight for Oct. 6.
Dana White announced that the former lightweight champion will return to the octagon at UFC 229 as he takes on current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov was the target of McGregor’s actions on April 5 at the media day for UFC 223. McGregor and his entourage crashed the press conference, with the fighter launching a metal dolly at a bus transporting Nurmagomedov.
McGregor was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief for his actions. He was even facing possible deportation, but his lawyer got him to plead to one count of disorderly conduct, which resulted in the sentence of five days of community service.
This upcoming bout won’t have that same problem. White said there will be no world tour for the media as it’s “an easy fight to promote.”
McGregor has not competed in the octagon since UFC 205 in November 2016. He won the UFC lightweight championship that night but was stripped of the title last April due to inactivity.
Nurmagomedov then challenged for the vacant title and won a unanimous decision over Al Iaquinta to push his record to 26-0.
The 29-year-old Russian holds the longest undefeated streak in MMA history and is currently No. 8 in UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings. Despite not fighting in nearly two years, McGregor is the No. 3 fighter on the list.
This will be McGregor’s second fight as a UFC lightweight (up to 155 pounds). His first seven fights with the promotion were as a featherweight (145 pounds) before moving up to welterweight (170 pounds) for two bouts with Nate Diaz.
He then dropped back down to lightweight for his last UFC fight in 2016 and stayed at that weight for his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
“When you talk about pound-for-pound, best in the world? This is a guy who is actually living proof for pound-for-pound,” said White. “[McGregor] jumps from weight class to weight class and fights people in different weight classes. He went out and boxed Floyd Mayweather, and he is literally willing to fight anybody in the world who thinks they’re better than him. It’s what makes him so popular. This isn’t a crossroads fight. This is another fight to cement his legacy as one of the best to ever do it.”
McGregor has not publicaly commented on White’s announcement for his next fight other than a social media video he posted that contains a creepy laugh.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmB409iBTZ7/?hl=en&taken-by=thenotoriousmma
Despite being ranked as the better fighter according to UFC, McGregor comes in as an underdog, in part due to his lengthy layoff.
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook opened McGregor as a plus-150 underdog to Nurmagomedov (minus-180).
This is the second fight in a row in which McGregor is the underdog as Floyd Mayweather was the heavy favorite when he defeated McGregor last August.
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