Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor appears to be on his way to making his much-anticipated return to the Octagon, but it’s not set in stone just yet.
McGregor was jogging in New York City when TMZ Sports caught up with him, and asked him if his next fight is a done deal.
“It’s not official, but we’re close,” McGregor said.
As far as the venue, while he is in New York right now and headlined the UFC’s first show at Madison Square Garden, it looks like, as expected, Sin City is the destination.
“We’ll see what happens,” McGregor said. “I’d love to fight in the Garden again. But I believe this one is Las Vegas.”
If it’s just limited to Las Vegas, then that leaves UFC 229 on October 6th, the coveted date for his showdown with current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, or UFC 232 on December 29th. This is where pretty much all of the UFC’s biggest money fights have happened over the years, and there’s not much reason to believe that changes any time soon, not when they are contractually obligated to run four events per year at T-Mobile Arena.
McGregor pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct last week after his bus attack during UFC 223 fight week. Multiple fights were cancelled as a result of his window-smashing dolly throw, but McGregor avoided jail time with his plea deal, and will only have to do five days of community service and 1-3 days of anger management evaluation.
Of interest this week is the UFC holding a special press conference on Friday from Los Angeles, as they promote their upcoming events. UFC 228 headliners Tyron Woodley and Darren Till are expected to attend the presser, but the UFC currently has no pay-per-view main events announced beyond September. Perhaps that’ll change on Friday, and we will get news of McGregor’s first MMA fight since November 2016.
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