The wait is OVER! What most people feel will be the most watched MMA event in the history of the UFC, Conor McGregor will make his return to the octagon on October 6, 2018 and will face current UFC Lightweight Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The bad blood and hateful feelings towards each other stemmed from an incident where Conor McGregor’s training partner, Artem Lobov, was cornered by Nurmagomedov prior to the weigh-ins for UFC 223 on April 6, 2018. Nurmagomedov had words with Lobov, who in turn called McGregor, who was in Ireland at the time, and explained to him what Nurmagomedov and his camp did with Lobov.
This caused McGregor and several members of his training camp, to hop on a plane and fly to Brooklyn, New York, where they attacked a bus that Nurmagomedov was on. McGregor was charged criminally for the incident and just 3 weeks ago, pled guilty to Disorderly Conduct. His punishment for the incident ended up being 5 days of community service and was placed on probation.
This led up to the announcement of the fight, which will headline UFC 229 on October 6, 2018. The UFC released a press release that showed that the ticket pricing for the event is set at $2,505, $2,005, $1,505, $1,005, $755, $555, $405, $355, $305, $255 and $205. This is by far the most expensive ticket that the UFC has ever had. The price of the tickets show the level of excitement that this fight will bring with it to the sport.
The fight will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena. The brass at the UFC felt that the T-Mobile arena would be the only venue large enough to house the amount of fans wanting to attend this blockbuster MMA event.
Conor McGregor is 21-3 and is currently a +150 underdog. McGregor hasn’t stepped inside the octagon since November 12, 2016, when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC Lightweight Title. McGregor never lost that title however due to the fact that McGregor wanted to participate in the boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, the UFC stripped him of the title, as well as his UFC Featherweight Title, and now he will need to win the title back.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is undefeated at 26-0 and is listed as the -180 favorite in the fight. Nurmagomedov is an elite grappler that can take down the best wrestlers in the world with ease. Nurmagomedov last fought on that UFC 223 card, where he beat Al Iaquinta by unanimous decision.
In addition to Mcgregor vs. Nurmagomedov, the UFC has already set the majority of the rest of the card. In the Co-Main Event, we will see Derrick “The Beast” Lewis take on Alexander Volkov in a heavyweight battle. Lewis is coming into this fight off one of the worst fights in UFC history against Francis N’Gannou. Lewis won a 3 round unanimous decision but to say that the fight was boring would be a dramatic understatement. Alexander Volkov has gone 4-0 in the UFC and is riding a 6 fight win streak.
Some other fights already scheduled for UFC 229 are Sergio Pettis vs. Jussier Formiga in the Flyweight Division. Ovince St. Preux will look to take the zero away from Dominick Reyes undefeated record. Michelle Waterson will be looking to position herself back in contention for a title shot when she takes on Felice Herrig. Yana Kunitskaya will be facing off with Lina Lansberg. Ryan LaFlare will take on Tony Martin, Alan Patrick will face Scott Holtzman and Sean O’Malley will look to remain undefeated when he faces Jose Alberto Quinones.