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.
Brendan Jones
Roar Rookie
I hope that McGregor gets knocked into next year for that disgraceful performance that he put on in New York, earlier this year. Should be a very interesting fight, but the focus for today is UFC 227 as the rematch for the bantamweight title between Dillashaw and Garbrandt with the return of mighty mouse DJ Johnson putting up his title against Henry Cejudo. Should be an interesting card today
Rob9
Guest
Excited to see the notorious back in the octagon! I don't see it playing out well for him at 229 though (not that I care so much after his little performance at MSG). He should force Khabib into a fight though which will be something different for the eagle!