Conor McGregor returns to the UFC for the first time since November 2016 on Saturday night for UFC 229. The event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
McGregor (21-3) is set to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov (26-0) for the UFC Lightweight Championship in the main event of a 12-fight card. The five-match main car will start at approximately 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
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Other matches on the card will include Michelle Wasterson vs. Felice Herrig, Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov, Ovince Saint Preux vs. Dominick Reyes and Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis.
McGregor previously won the UFC Lightweight Championship at the UFC 205 event at Madison Square Garden in New York City back in November 2016. He chose to take a hiatus from mixed martial arts following that fight to pursue a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, which he lost in August 2017. With him gone, the UFC opted to crown an interim champion when Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee at UFC 216 in October 2017. Both McGregor and Ferguson were officially stripped of their titles back in April, though McGregor has appeared at multiple events wearing both the Lightweight and Featherweight Championships.
Nurmagomedov became UFC Lightweight Champion at UFC 223 in April and his bout with McGregor was officially announced in August.
The two have traded verbal jabs throughout the promotion for the fight, but when it came time for the final press conference on Thursday McGregor showed up so late that Nurmagomedov had already spoken to reporters and left the building.
“For me, this is more than (just) defend(ing) my title,” the Russian champion said. “For me, it’s more than fight for the title. For me, it’s personal. Of course, this is the biggest fight in UFC history.”
McGregor did eventually show up and was his usual loud, boisterous self.
“He should have just stayed put,” McGregor said. “He doesn’t want to be around me. He doesn’t want to be around these fans. It is what it is. I’ve given you enough face-offs and stuff down the years. Let’s hope he pulls weight. Get that man into the sauna and cook him like the little chicken-jaw rat that he is.”
“It’s all good to me,” he continued. “Khabib was saying stuff but I don’t care. He didn’t have the balls to stay here a couple of minutes late. And he will look for an exit in the fight, too.”
Win or lose, McGregor still has another five fights left on his current UFC contract, so fans can expect plenty more out of the charismatic Irishman.
