August 13, 2018 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov to set records

What could be the biggest non-boxing event in PPV history, a Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor fight for the UFC lightweight title was announced for 10/6 in Las Vegas.

Suddenly, the disappointing ratings and PPV numbers don’t sting so badly with the biggest cash cow in UFC history fighting again.

Of course, McGregor fighting this soon is another lesson in the power of celebrity and money. McGregor, in April, flew himself and about 20 others from Ireland to Brooklyn for a premeditated attempted attack on Nurmagomedov, a unique potential rival, because of a confrontation a few days earlier between Nurmagomedov and Artem Lobov, a training partner of McGregor. There were words exchanged in the hotel between the two, but no blows thrown. McGregor, not on his own, but with others, managed to get themselves backstage, go crazy, including two innocent UFC staff members being punched, not to mention the scene for everyone to where he threw a dolly through the window of a moving bus that Nurmagomedov, who was in the main event of the show two days later, was in.

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