Conor McGregor returns January 18th in Las Vegas to face Cowboy Donald Cerrone according to the UFC’s Dana White. The fight marks the return of the polarizing McGregor since his loss to Khabib Nurmogomedov in October 2018.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed the news:
Breaking: Per Dana White (@danawhite), Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) has signed to face Donald Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) at UFC 246 on Jan. 18, at welterweight.
“Conor has signed and Cerrone is ready to go.”
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) November 28, 2019
McGregor has not won a fight since November 2016. Cerrone comes off of a loss to Justin Gaethje this past September in Vancouver. His prior lost via doctor stoppage by Tony Ferguson in June. Cerrone did win this year against Al Iaquinta and Alexander Hernandez.
McGregor’s return will be questioned as he is still under investigation for two sexual assaults in Ireland. The latest being reported by the New York Times in October 2019. He also was the subject of an assault in a pub with a gentleman that refused a drink from McGregor.
Despite the issues, Sports Business Journal rates McGregor atop the MMA social media rankings. One might interpret this as him having influence on many fans/non-fans. Over the past year (November 2018-2019), he’s gained over 4.3M followers adding to a following of almost 48M. Khabib Nurmagomedov comes at a far second with just a little less than 9.5M followers and having gained over 3.7M this past year.
Payout Perspective:
The obvious question if you are a Justin Gaethje fan is how does Cerrone get the fight with Conor when he KO’d the Cowboy this past September. Gaethje has been lobbying for Conor but the obvious answer is that Cerrone is the less dangerous fight for McGregor who is in dire need of a win upon his return in 2020. McGregor needs the UFC at this point as it appears that his personal life is embroiled in legal controversy and he needs to return to focusing on MMA before he spirals more out of control. Regardless, the return will be hard as he’ll have to have a solid public relations plan in place as questions remain concerning his sexual assault allegations which he has denied.
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