Conor McGregor is officially set to return to the UFC.
The promotion announced Friday the Irish superstar will take on Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229 on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas.
McGregor hasn’t competed in the UFC since winning the lightweight title in November of 2016 when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden. He didn’t compete in mixed martial arts in 2017, but did fight Flyod Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match that ended up being one of the most successful pay-per-view events of all time.
The 30-year-old recently avoided jail time by pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after facing multiple criminal charges in New York stemming from an incident at Barclays Center in April ahead of UFC 223 when he threw a metal dolly through a bus window.
McGregor attacked the bus because Nurmagomedov, who headlined UFC 223, was sitting inside. Earlier that week Nurmagomedov was involved in an altercation with McGregor’s teammate, Artem Lobov, at the hotel the fighters were staying in.
McGregor was stripped of his belt after the bus incident by UFC president Dana White, who said he was “completely disgusted” by McGregor’s actions. Ironically–or predictably–the UFC used footage of the bus incident in the UFC 229 promo seen below as a means to sell the fight.
McGregor (21-3) has proven himself to be among the most precise and efficient strikers in UFC history, holding victories over Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz, Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier among others. He was the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in multiple weight classes simultaneously, winning the featherweight championship 11 months prior to taking out Alvarez at lightweight.
Nurmagomedov (26-0) won the UFC’s vacant 155-pound title by defeating short-notice opponent Al Iaquinta at UFC 223.
The stoic Dagestani is widely considered the most dominant grappler in MMA and current UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier said earlier this year that he doesn’t think McGregor will stand much of a chance against his American Kickboxing Academy teammate.
“When I watch Conor fight Chad Mendes, Chad Mendes is a great wrestler but he’s small,” Cormier said of McGregor’s UFC 189 interim featherweight title fight with Mendes. “He beat him up for two rounds. He beat Conor for two rounds until Conor got up. [Mendes] had done that for two straight rounds on 10 days’ notice. [McGregor] ain’t getting up like Al Iaquinta got up [after several Nurmagomedov takedowns at UFC 223]. You see what happens when you get stuck under Khabib. You become [previous unsuccessful Nurmagomedov opponents] Edson Barboza and Michael Johnson.
Cormier added: “He’ll be the only guy that never loses. He’s not going to lose, man. They won’t know how to deal with him. He’s going to be the only guy that goes through this whole thing without losing. Because I’m not sure he’s going to be here that long. But while he’s here, nobody’s going to beat him.”
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