Conor McGregor Announces Date for Next UFC Fight

Former two-division UFC Champion Conor McGregor announced via a press conference in Moscow on Thrusday that he will return to the Octagon for the first time since October 2018 on Jan. 18, 2020 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. McGregor would not reveal who his opponent would be, though ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported via sources that the front-runners were Donal Cerrone and Justin Gaethje. Back in November 2016 McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez via TKO at UFC 205 to hold both the UFC Featherweight and UFC Lightweight Championships. He was then stripped of both championships due to inactivity and spent most of 2017 focusing on his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. He then returned to the UFC at UFC 229 for a bout against new Lighweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, only to lose in the fourth round via submission.

"Ask the UFC who the opponent is, because I do not give a f— who the opponent is," McGregor said when asked who he would face in January.

Back in April McGregor teased the idea that he would be retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts, but pulled back on the idea just one week later.

"I want to move forward, with my fans of all faiths and all backgrounds," McGregor wrote during an interaction with Nurmagomedov. "All faiths challenge us to be our best selves. It is one world and one for all. Now see you in the Octagon."

In the year since his loss to Nurmagomedov, McGregor has found himself in trouble with the law twice. In March he was arrested in Miami Beach after allegedly taking a man's phone and smashing it on the ground. The charges were later dismissed due to inconsistencies in the victim's testimony. Then in August a video of McGregor attacking a man inside of a Dublin pub went viral, leading to the former champ getting charged with assault.

During the press conference McGregor teased a rematch with Nurmagomedov, then addressed his absence from fighting.

"That is the bout we want," McGregor said. "We want this bout in Moscow. The people of Russia deserve this bout to take place. The people of the world deserve this bout to take place."

"The people who believe in me deserve better," he later added. "It is an insult to the people that believe in me that I am not fully committed. So now I am coming back and I'm fully committed. And I am eager to come back and show the best of myself for my fans around the world."