Conor McGregor announces at a press conference in Moscow this AM that he has agreed to return to action on Jan. 18 in. T-Mobile. He did not name the opponent. Fight isn’t signed. Two leading candidates are Cerrone and Gaethje. Cerrone is the frontrunner at this time, I’m told. McGregor pushed for 12/14 versus Edgar but those talks never went anywhere because the UFC really didn’t want that fight. They actually weren’t even scheduled to have a PPV in January but once it became clear McGregor was ready to return they came up with this 1/18 date. McGregor wanted to return on 12/14 but that didn’t make financial sense since they already had the 3 title fights booked for that card. McGregor is looking at 2020 as “a season.” He wants 3 fights next year: 1/18, winner of Masvidal/Diaz and then the winner of Khabib/Ferguson. And if Khabib wins versus Ferguson, he really wants the rematch in Moscow, I’m told.
By Ariel Helwani