It’s on. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor is official for UFC 229, the UFC announced at its press conference on August 3.
The two will meet for the UFC lightweight championship on October 6 in Las Vegas. There’s a lot of heat behind the fight, largely dating back to UFC 223. Nurmagomedov confronted McGregor’s friend, Artem Lobov, during fight week. McGregor didn’t take too kindly to that. He threw a dolly cart through the window of the UFC bus that Nurmagomedov was on, which led to the Irishman’s arrest.
With McGregor’s legal issues resolved, he was freed to fight Nurmagomedov in what will perhaps be the biggest fight in UFC history.
It seemed the fight wasn’t going to happen, as neither Nurmagomedov nor McGregor were at the UFC’s press conference in Los Angeles. As the presser was wrapping up, UFC President Dana White said he had something to show the people in attendance, and played the below clip.
Nurmagomedov
Nurmagomedov captured the title when he defeated Al Iaquinta via unanimous decision at UFC 223. Both interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and featherweight champ Max Holloway were forced out of the fight, thus paving way for Iaquinta to step in. He was stripped of the lightweight title that same weekend, making Nurmagomedov the undisputed champ.
McGregor
McGregor became the lightweight champion in November 2016 when he challenged Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. The then-featherweight champ McGregor defeated Alvarez via second-round TKO to become the champ-champ. He then went on to face Floyd Mayweather in an August 2017 boxing match and lost the fight via TKO. McGregor was stripped of his lightweight title at UFC 223. He will now have the opportunity to recapture it at UFC 229.
