“The Notorious” Conor McGregor is back.
The UFC will enter 2020 in style as UFC 246 will be headlined by a giant fight between Dubliner McGregor and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone on 18 January.
The news was broken by ESPN pair Ariel Helwani and Brett Okamoto after receiving confirmation from UFC President Dana White.
According to Okamoto’s report, the fight will be at welterweight and McGregor signed his contract agreeing to the fight on that date.
“Conor has signed and Cowboy is ready to go,” White told ESPN.
McGregor hasn’t appeared in the Octagon since his submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight championship in October 2018.
This bout will be the third time former UFC featherweight and lightweight dual-champion McGregor competes up in weight at the 170-pound welterweight limit.
His two previous appearances at that weight were against Nate Diaz, dropping a loss first time round before taking a close majority decision in their rematch.
Cerrone has more experience at welterweight than his upcoming foe, competing at 170 pounds for three years between 2016-2019.
The Coloradan recently returned to the lightweight division, taking impressive wins over former title challenger Al Iaquinta and prospect Alexander Hernandez.
However, he is currently riding a two-fight losing streak, having suffered stoppage losses against top-class lightweights Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje back-to-back.
