The return of Notorious champ-champ, Conor McGregor

The long-awaited return of Conor McGregor is nearly over, on Saturday he’ll seek his revenge on UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.

It’s been 693 days since former lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor has stepped into the Octagon, not that anyone is counting or anything. On Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, it will have been nearly two years since UFC fans have watched the “Notorious” fighter in the element to which he became a star. The wait is nearly over and McGregor looks to take back at least one of the belts he gave up in his absence.

McGregor will face UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event at UFC 229 in what could potentially be a historic night for the promotion. If McGregor wins, he’ll become a champion once again and will be the first fighter to hand Nurmagomedov a defeat. If Nurmagomedov defeats McGregor he’ll cement himself in the history books as one of the greatest lightweights in MMA history.

You could say the stakes are a bit high.

The last time we saw McGregor was at UFC 205 where he defeated Eddie Alvarez to become the first-ever UFC fighter to hold two titles, in two different weight classes at the same time. From there he briefly left the UFC to focus on his firstborn (who is of course named Conor Jr.) and even dabbled in boxing when he faced boxing legend Floyd Mayweather. He relenquished his featherweight title, and was stripped of his lightweight title but from the looks of it, he’d loaded up on cash and never really needed to fight again. In fact, most fans thought he’d hang up his gloves forever…

… then Nurmagomedov came along.

In order to understand why MMA fans are on the edge of their seats, you need to know how these two men found themselves across the canvas from each other. For many years the names McGregor and Nurmagomedov never went together. They seemed lightyears apart despite both fighting in the lightweight division. It wasn’t until April 2018 that things started getting heavy.

In early April, just days before UFC 233, Nurmagomedov was seen on camera yelling and putting his hands on Artem Lobov (McGregor’s friend and teammate). The video apparently lit a fire of anger under McGregor and he boarded a plane from Ireland, along with his entourage, to confront Nurmagomedov and defend the honor of his teammate. Unfortunately, things got a bit out of hand.

McGregor and his posse arrived at a pre-fight event (uninvited and uncredentialed) and stormed a bus which was holding Nurmagomedov, other UFC fighters and even UFC personnel. He asked Nurmagomedov multiple times to exit the bus, but he refused. McGregor enraged that he was unable to reach Nurmagomedov, picked up a metal dolly and threw it through the bus window, shattering the glass and injuring multiple people.

“This is the most disgusting thing that has ever happened in the history of the company,” UFC President Dana White told MMAjunkie. “This was a real bad career move for him.”

Turns out it was actually a really good career move, seeing as he’s now fighting Nurmagomedov on the biggest card of the year. Oh, and the UFC is using the video of the assault (which McGregor was arrested for and plead guilty for) in the promos for the fight.

So, in addition to the return of arguably the most recognizable MMA fighter of all time, we have the most epic beef in all of MMA.

You can catch all of the fight week action, and trust us, you don’t want to miss any of it.

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