The UFC’s first show of 2020 will mark a return to the Octagon for Conor McGregor. Dana White revealed on Thanksgiving Day that McGregor is lined up for a welterweight bout against Donald Cerrone, which will headline UFC 246 on January 18th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
McGregor, who’s reportedly under investigation for two sexual assaults in Ireland, has been out of UFC competition since his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. His 2019 has been mostly defined by those aforementioned legal troubles, which don’t even include his punch-out of a man at a Dublin bar.
A showdown with Cerrone would be his first at welterweight since the 2016 rematch with Nate Diaz. Cerrone is looking to snap a two-fight losing skid, with Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje both getting the better of him in recent months.
No bout order has been revealed, no co-main is set, so please do not skip over this line in the comments section and scratch your head over how the fight order has been structured. These are just the confirmed and/or targeted bouts that are on tap for UFC 246:
Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone
Anthony Pettis vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
Maycee Barber vs. Roxanne Modafferi
Drew Dober vs. Nasrat Haqparast
Chas Skelly vs. Grant Dawson
Tim Elliott vs. Askar Askarov
Andre Fili vs. Sodiq Yusuff
Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Maurice Greene