It may have taken two years, but the Conor McGregor is coming back to the UFC.
On Friday, the UFC announced that McGregor will face current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, at UFC 229 on Oct. 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
UFC 229 will mark the first time McGregor has fought for the UFC, since becoming a dual-champion (featherweight and lightweight) at UFC 205, in November of 2016.
In the years that McGregor has been absent from the UFC, he has been stripped of both titles, with Max Holloway and Khabib Nurmagomedov earing the respective titles.
McGregor has not participated in athletic competition since facing legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather in August 2017. McGregor ultimately fell to Mayweather via a 10th-round TKO.
While a McGregor-Nurmagomedov fight has been talked about for several years, their rivalry was elevated when McGregor threw a dolly through at a bus transporting several fighters (including Nurmagomedov) two days prior to UFC 223.
Recently, McGregor struck a plea-deal with the state of New York and will not face any jail time as a result of the incident.
At UFC 223 Nurmagomedov defeated Al Iaquinta to capture the vacant lightweight title that McGregor previously held.
McGregor holds a 21-3 MMA record, going 9-1 in the UFC. McGregor is a massive pay-per-view draw for the UFC, with 4 out of 5 of his main events drawing over 1 million buys.
For his part, Nurmagomedov holds a 26-fight undefeated streak with 10 of those victories coming in the UFC.
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