Conor McGregor will return to the octagon on October 6 in Las Vegas for a title bout against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The UFC dramatically announced the matchup on Friday with a promotional video to close a news conference promoting its fight cards for the rest of 2018.
“The fight is done,” UFC president Dana White said.
McGregor (21-3) won the featherweight and lightweight championships during his meteoric MMA career, but he hasn’t fought in the UFC since taking the 155-pound lightweight belt from Eddie Alvarez in November 2016.
And the Irishman hasn’t competed at all since losing his lucrative boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.
His lightweight title was stripped and subsequently claimed by Nurmagomedov in April.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov will meet in the main event of the UFC 229 pay-per-view show at T-Mobile Arena, the same spot where Mayweather stopped McGregor in the 10th round of their one-sided fight.
Nurmagomedov has been one of the pound-for-pound greats of MMA, racking up 10 consecutive victories since joining the UFC.
He is a formidable challenger for McGregor in a return from a 23-month break from MMA competition.
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