Sean Sheehan 
The fight everybody in the world of MMA wanted to see is finally official. Former concurrent two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor will fight current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for his lightweight title. The bout will take place on October 6th at UFC 229 in the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. The news was announced at a UFC press-conference tonight.
McGregor, who last fought in MMA in late 2016, was stripped of his title due to inactivity while he took on boxing great Floyd Mayweather in 2017. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, was crowned undisputed 155 lbs champion when he defeated Al Iaquinta following an injury to Tony Ferguson who had previously been interim champion.
The rivalry between the pair has been growing for some time but escalated to levels never seen before in MMA when McGregor and a group of his teammates attacked a bus carrying Nurmagomedov prior to UFC 223. The attack was in response to the Russian and his team cornering McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov in the hotel during fight week.
Last week, McGregor was cleared of all felony charges – leaving him free to travel, and fight, in the United States.
Nurmagomedov is currently undefeated in 26 MMA fights while McGregor, who is undefeated in three UFC title fights, has only one UFC loss to Nate Diaz, who he later defeated in a rematch.
