Conor McGregor-Donald Cerrone booked for January’s UFC 246

The long-awaited return of former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is finally in sight.

According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto via UFC president Dana White, McGregor has signed his contract to face former title contender and fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 246 on Saturday, January 18th in Las Vegas, NV. The fight will be at welterweight and not lightweight where the two have spent time during their careers.

White said McGregor has signed and Cerrone “is set to go”.

The 31-year-old McGregor (21-4) hasn’t been in action since losing via submission to rival and UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. Due to his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather and other outside-the-cage factors, he has fought just once in the Octagon since August 2016.

The 36-year-old Cerrone (36-13-0-1) is coming off a two-fight losing streak with finishes at the hands of top contenders Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, respectively. This will be his first fight at welterweight since a first round submission win over Mike Perry in November 2018. He fought 10 times in the UFC at 170 pounds with a 6-4 record.

The two have been angling for this fight for quite some time and had a verbal skirmish back in September 2015 at a UFC press conference that will get played quite a bit in the promotion for this fight.